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A    BOOK    OF    ANGELS 


HEAD  OF  AN  ANGEL. 


A  BOOK   OF  ANGELS 


#e* 


EDITED   BY   L.  P. 

COMPILER   OF 

'THE   INHERITANCE   OF  THE   SAINTS 


WITH   TWELVE  PLATES 


i  | 


•  -*  v  T*J  T       \  /F  A.  7 

LONGMANS,    GREEN,    AND    CO 

39     PATERNOSTER     ROW,     LONDON 
NEW  YORK  AND   BOMBAY 

1906 
All    rights    reserved 


TO   THE    MEMORY   OF 

E.  G.  P.  AND  I.  E.  H. 

WHO    IN   THEIR   LIVES 
WERE    BEAUTIFUL  AND   HELPFUL 

AS   ANGELS 
AND   WITH   THE   ANGELS 

NOW    DWELL 
IN    THE    LIGHT 


EDITOR'S    PREFACE 


IN  a  book  devoted  to  one  subject  by  several  writers 
there  must  needs  be  some  reiteration  of  theme  ; 
but,  as  every  mind  sees  a  subject  differently,  the 
light  thrown  on  it  may,  for  this  very  reason,  be 
particularly  valuable,  and  reiteration  be  in  that 
case  not  a  loss  but  a  gain. 

To  secure  this  as  much  as  possible  has  been  the 
aim  and  endeavour  of  the  present  collection,  and 
if  here  and  there  appears  even  some  divergence  of 
view,  it  will  not  on  so  high  a  subject  be  unwelcome 
or  strange,  provided  that  no  clearly  revealed 
principles  of  Holy  Scripture  are  left  out  of  con 
sideration,  a  risk  which  I  trust  will  be  found  to  have 
been  guarded  against  in  the  following  work. 

It  is  necessary,  however,  just  to  say  that  each 
writer  is  of  course  responsible  only  for  his  own 
contribution. 

I  am  quite  unable  adequately  to  thank  those  who 
have  so  willingly  helped  me  by  writing  the  various 
papers  which  appear  in  this  volume.  This  is  especi 
ally  the  case  in  regard  to  one  friend,  without  whose 


viii  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

help  and  sympathy  the  book  would  hardly  have 
come  to  its  present  form. 

I  must  also  thank  both  friends  and  publishers 
for  allowing  me  to  give  the  extracts  which  will  be 
found  in  this  book  : 

The  Bishop  of  Rochester  and  the  Editor  of  the 
'  Guardian ' :  for  permission  to  reprint  part  of  the 
Bishop's  Sermon  at  the  Weymouth  Congress. 

Messrs.  Longmans,  Green,  and  Co. :  for  Bishop  Moberly's 
Sermons,  J.  H.  Newman's  '  Dream  of  Gerontius  ' 
and  University  Sermons  ;  and,  with  the  Rev.  J.  O. 
Johnston,  Dr.  Liddon's  works. 

Messrs.  Macmillan  and  Co.,  Ltd.  :  for  Bishop  Phillips 
Brooks's  '  New  Starts  in  Life,'  Bishop  Westcott's 
'  Historic  Faith,'  and  Christina  Rossetti's  Poems. 

Mr.  John  Murray  :  for  T.  Gambier  Parry's  '  Ministry  of 
Fine  Art.' 

Messrs.  Thomas  Nelson  and  Sons  :  for  B.  M.'s  '  Ezekiel, 
and  other  Poems.' 

Messrs.  Burns  and  Gates  :  for  Faber's  Poems. 

Mr.  J.  Parker  :  for  Sermons  by  Canon  T.  T.  Carter  and 
Dean  Randall. 

The  Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge  :  for 
Christina  Rossetti's  '  The  Face  of  the  Deep '  ;  and, 
with  Miss  Church,  for  Dean  Church's  '  Message  of 
Peace.' 

The  Master  and  Fellows  of  Trinity  Hall,  Cambridge  : 
for  Henry  Latham's  '  A  Service  of  Angels.' 

L.  P. 


CONTENTS 


3ntroouctor£    ........     *v 

From  a  Sermon  by  THE  LORD  BISHOP  OF  ROCHESTER 
before  the  Church  Congress  at  Weymouth,  1905. 

CHAPTER 

i.  Gbe  Bngel  of  tbe  presence    .....       i 

The  Right  Rev.  ALLAN  BECKER  WEBB,  D.D.,  Dean 

of  Salisbury. 

ii.  B  Survey  of  Scripture  TReferences  to  Bngelfc 
Ministrations       .......     21 

From  a  Sermon  by  the  late  Rev.  Canon  T.  T.  CARTER. 

in.  Gbe  tbolg  Bngels  in  IRelatfon  to  (Boo  ano  /iRan     45 

Rev.  V.  S.  S.  COLES,  M.A.,  Principal  of  the  Pusey 
House,  Oxford. 


iv.  Gbe  1bol£  Rttdefe  in  1Recjar&  to  tbeir  Corporate 

State  anD  Xife     .......     65 

Rev.    C.    H.    SHARPE,    M.A.,    Gloucester  Diocesan 
Missioner. 


v.  £be  Serapbim    ........    107 

Rev.  J.  GEORGE  TETLEY,  D.D.,  Canon  of  Bristol 

vi.  Gbe  Cberubim  ........    123 

Rev.  ERNEST  EDWARD  DUGMORE,  M.A.,  Pre 
bendary  of  Salisbury. 

vii.  Bnaets   rouno  tbe  ^brone  in  TIClorsbip  ano 

Praise       .........    i39 

The  Rev.  Canon  WIRGMAN,  D.D.,  Vice-Provost  of 
St.  Mary's  Collegiate  Church,  Port  Elizabeth,  and 
Hon.  Chaplain  to  the  King. 


x  A    BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

viii.  Certain  Cbaracterfstics  of  tbe  fbols  Bngels    .    165 

The   Very   Rev.    R.    W.    RANDALL,    late  Dean  of 
Chichester. 


ix.  abe  Conception  of  Bngels  as  IRepresenteo  in 
art  ......  ...    193 

E.  M.  H. 

x.  Wsitants  and  /Messengers      .  .      .    .   215 

Rev.  HERBERT   H.   JEAFFRESON,  M.A.,  Chaplain 
to  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Gibraltar. 

xi.  Guardian  angels    .....  -233 

Rev.     G.    W.    HART,    B.A.,     Community   of  the 
Resurrection. 


xii.  angels  of  <Soo&  Gioings  anD  SOE  ...       255 

Rev.  WILLIAM  H.  DRAPER,  M.A.,  Rector  of  AdeL 
Rev.  L.  R.  WHIGHAM,  M.A. 

xiii.  .Ministering  Bngels      .  ....    275 

The  Very   Rev.    F.    E.    CARTER,    M.A.,   Dean  of 
Grahamstown. 

xiv.  angels  of  Dictorg     .      ......    297 

Rev.  C.  H.  SHARPE,  M.A. 


xv.  Gbe  IDoice  of  tbe  Brcbangel       .      .      .      .315 

Rev.  WILLIAM  H.  DRAPER,  M.A. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


I.     HEAD  OF  AN  ANGEL  (GHIRLANDAJO)       Frontispiece 

At  Highnam    Court,   Gloucester.     From  a 
Photograph  by  W.  A.  Mansell  &  Co. 

II.     ANGELS  (T.  GAMBIER  PARRY,  1873)     To  face  p.  23 

In  the  Lantern^  Ely  Cathedral. 

III.  AN     ANGEL     ADORING     (FILIPPO 

LIPPI)     .  ,,47 

In  the  National  Gallery.     From  a  Photo 
graph  by  W.  A.  Mansell&  Co. 

IV.  TOBIAS    AND    THE    THREE   ARCH 

ANGELS  (BOTTICELLI)          .         .  „         67 

Florence.    From  a  Photograph  by  Anderson, 
Rome. 

V.    ADORING  ANGELS   (BENOZZO  Goz- 

ZOLI) ,,141 

In  the  Riccardi  Palace,  Florence.     Front  a 
Photograph  by  A  nderson,  Rome. 

VI.     THE    BURIAL    OF  ST.  CATHERINE 

(LuiNi)       .  „       167 

In  the  Brera,  Milan.     From  a  Photograph 
by  Anderson,  Rome. 

VII.     AN  ANGEL  (PINTURICCHIO)       .     .  ,,       195 

In  the   Vatican.      From   a   Photograph   by 
Andersen,  Rgme. 


xii  A  BOOK   OF   ANGELS 


VIII.     THE  ANGEL  GUARDIAN  (F.  SHIELDS)   To  face  p.  235 

Front    a    Reproduction    by    the    Autotype 
Company,  London. 

IX.     THE  ANNUNCIATION   (T.   GAMBIER 

PARRY,  1884)      .  ,,257 

Panel  in  a  Reredos. 

X.     THE  GARDEN  OF  GETHSEMANE  (T. 

GAMBIER  PARRY,  1884).         .     .  „       277 

Panel  in  a  Reredos. 

XL     ANGEL  AT  THE  EMPTY  TOMB  (FRA 

ANGELICO)  .        .        .  ,,299 

Florence. 

XII.     ANGELS  (T.  GAMBIER  PARRY,  1873)  »       3X7 

In  the  Lantern,  Ely  Cathedral. 


O  EVERLASTING  GOD,  Who  hast  ordained  and 
constituted  the  services  of  Angels  and  men  in  a 
wonderful  order ;  Mercifully  grant,  that  as  Thy 
holy  Angels  alway  do  Thee  service  in  Heaven,  so 
by  Thy  appointment  they  may  succour  and  defend 
us  on  earth ;  through  JESUS  CHRIST  our  LORD. 
Amen. 


INTRODUCTORY 

FROM  A  SERMON  BY  THE  LORD  BISHOP  OF  ROCHESTER 
BEFORE  THE  CHURCH  CONGRESS  AT  WEYMOUTH, 

1905. 
Thy  will  be  done  in  earth,  as  it  is  in  heaven. — St.  Matt.  vi.  10. 

THE  season  of  Michaelmas  reminds  us  of  those 
beings  who,  created,  as  we  are,  immortal,  like 
ourselves,  sharing  with  us  the  attributes  of  in 
telligence,  volition,  and  spiritual  apprehension, 
are,  unlike  us,  disembodied  and  invisible  to  the 
eyes  of  mortal  sense,  and  so  occupy  an  intermediate 
sphere  between  the  Divine  and  the  human.  It  has 
been  truly  said  that  the  weak  hold  which  the 
average  man  maintains  upon  the  doctrine  of  the 
existence  of  Angels  arises  not  so  much  from  a 
difficulty  of  the  reason  as  from  a  lack  of  the  ima 
gination.  For  surely  when  the  microscope  reveals 
to  our  gaze  myriad  forms  of  life,  descending  from 
man  through  countless  gradations  down  to  the 
protoplasm,  reason  should  prepare  us  to  believe  in 
similar  ranks  of  created  beings,  moving  upwards  to 

a 


xvi  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

bridge  over  the  void  which  separates  imperfect 
man  from  God  Almighty,  All-good  and  All- 
intelligent.  For  why  should  we  admit  that  nature 
below  us  teems  with  life  and  yet  predicate  an 
absolute  blank  between  ourselves  and  God  ?  Why 
should  the  exuberant  fertility  of  the  great  Creator 
be  arrested  at  that  point  when  man  appears  upon 
the  scene  and  first  unites  in  himself  the  material 
and  the  spiritual  ?  And  if  reason  thus  suggests 
a  continuance  of  developed  life,  how  else  than  by 
a  chain  of  spiritual,  disembodied  beings  should  we 
expect  that  God,  Who  is  Himself  pure  Spirit,  would 
continue  the  upward  scale  of  existences  from  man, 
who,  by  virtue  of  his  composite  nature,  stands  at 
the  head  of  the  material  world,  and  yet  contains 
within  himself  a  spirit-life,  an  immortal  soul  ? 
'  What  is  man,  that  Thou  art  mindful  of  him,  and 
the  Son  of  Man,  that  Thou  visitest  Him  ?  Thou 
madest  him  lower  than  the  angels,  to  crown  him 
with  glory  and  worship.'  Thus,  when  logic  invites 
and  science — unveiling  the  Creator's  law  of  pro 
gressive  life — confirms  our  belief  in  angelic  beings, 
we  welcome  as  natural  revelation's  clear  insistence 
upon  this  fact,  and  it  is,  to  repeat  Dr.  Liddon's 
words,  a  lack  of  imagination  mainly  which  pre 
cludes  us  from  assigning  to  angel-life  its  proper 
place  in  our  consideration  and  our  thoughts.  The 
Bible,  we  admit,  is  full  of  angelic  visitations,  and 
nowhere  fuller  than  in  the  New  Testament,  and  thus 


INTRODUCTORY  xvii 

any  haunting  disquietude  lest  angels,  like  fairies, 
be  but  the  figment  of  the  misty-morning  period  of 
the  childhood  of  humanity,  and  must  pass  away 
under  the  clearer  light  of  midday  knowledge,  is  at 
once  dispelled.  Insisted  on  and  developed  by  our 
Blessed  Lord  and  Master,  accepted  without  question 
by  the  inspired  Apostles,  vouched  for  by  many  an 
appearance  recorded  by  evangelists  and  the  author 
of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  occupying  a  prominent 
place  in  the  apocalyptic  vision  of  St.  John  the 
Divine,  the  doctrine  of  the  existence  of  angels  and  of 
their  intervention  in  human  affairs  has  too  authorita 
tive  a  sanction  to  be  treated  as  an  open  question  in 
the  faith  of  Christendom.  And  if  any  of  us  be 
tempted  to  say  that,  be  that  as  it  may,  we  can 
afford  here  to  set  aside  our  belief  as  visionary  and 
impractical,  too  shadowy  to  call  for  serious  con 
sideration  at  this  stage  of  our  existence,  we  are  at 
once  arrested  and  brought  to  our  true  bearings  by 
the  suffrage  which  we  repeat  each  day  from  the 
lips  of  our  Divine  Master  :  '  Thy  will  be  done  in 
earth,  as  it  is  in  heaven.'  For,  if  these  words  have 
meaning  in  them,  they  must  assert  that  the  worship 
and  ministry  of  the  angels  to-day  in  heaven  is  to 
form  the  model  and  the  ideal  for  the  Church  on 
earth.  How  then,  I  ask,  can  we  conscientiously 
repeat  this  prayer  day  after  day  without  a  thought 
of  that  standard  of  obedience  and  of  service  which 
our  Blessed  Lord  sets  before  us  now  for  our  constant 
imitation  ? 


xviii  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

And  what  do  they  teach  us  ?  First,  the  necessity 
of  the  completest  organisation.  The  angels  are 
revealed  to  us  in  Holy  Scripture  not  as  a  *  mixed 
multitude,'  but  as  warriors  marshalled  in  their 
ranks.  '  More  than  twelve  legions  of  angels,'  such 
is  our  Lord's  description  of  the  forces  at  His  com 
mand,  to  be  summoned,  had  He  wished  it,  by  a 
single  prayer  to  His  Divine  Father,  And  St.  Paul, 
who  was  himself  at  one  time  caught  up  into  the 
third  heaven,  speaks  of  the  various  orders  in  the 
angelic  hierarchy  with  the  confidence  of  one  who 
knew  the  truth  of  what  he  affirmed. 

But  the  angels  are  not  only  organised  for  minis 
trations  ;  they  are  eager  students  of  theology.  In 
a  well-known  passage  St.  Peter  speaks  of  the 
mystery  of  the  Atonement  as  among  those  subjects 
which  '  the  angels  desire  to  look  into.'  Have  we 
nothing  to  learn  here,  that  so  the  will  of  God  may  be 
done  in  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven  ?  Is  the  systema- 
tised  study  of  the  principles  of  our  faith  what  it 
ought  to  be — nay,  even  what  it  once  was  in  this 
land? 

'  Thy  will  be  done  in  earth,  as  it  is  in  heaven.' 

Work  and  prayer  go  ever  hand  in  hand  here  on 
earth,  as  there  where  the  angels  stand  to  do  God's 
will  above,  and  where  they  rest  not  day  and  night 
in  that  perfect  service  which  calls  into  play  each 
power  and  touches  in  turn  each  note  to  evoke  the 
music  of  that  perfect  harmony — the  harmony  of 
a  surrendered  life. 


CHAPTER  I 
Ube  Hngel  of  tbe  ipresence 


Hnsel  of  tbe  presence 


As  through  the  wilderness  the  People  went, 
Leaving  reluctantly  the  world  behind, 

Lest  they  should  falter  God  His  Angel  sent 
And  fed  the  flame  of  hope  in  their  dull  mind. 

A  Fire  by  night  His  gracious  Presence  burned, 
A  Cloud  by  day  He  moved  before  their  eyes  ; 

None  from  the  path  of  safety  need  have  turned, 
None  have  come  short  in  His  great  enterprise. 

Just  to  have  known  themselves  to  be  but  men, 
Just  to  have  let  Him  lead  them  by  His  hand, 

Just  to  have  had  a  little  faith,  and  then 
All  had  come  safely  to  the  Promised  Land  ! 

And  yet  they  failed.     O,  by  their  failure  teach 
Those  that  come  after,  in  the  same  distress, 

More  faithfully  to  follow  till  they  reach 
The  land  that  lies  beyond  the  wilderness. 


B  2 


Ube  Hn0el  of  tbe  presence 

IT  was  well  and  tersely  stated  long  ago  by  a  notable 
student  and  teacher  of  God's  word  :  '  The  New 
Testament  lies  hid  in  the  Old  :  the  Old  Testament 
is  unveiled  in  the  New.'  We  believe  it  would  be 
no  less  true  to  say  that  in  the  Old  Testament  the 
Eternal  Word,  the  Son  of  God,  is  veiled  under  the 
appearance  of  the  Angel  of  the  Lord— sent  by 
Jehovah,  yet  speaking  and  acting  as  if  He  were 
Himself  Jehovah— and  revealed  in  the  New  Testa 
ment  as  Jesus  the  Saviour  of  Mankind.  In  the 
great  promise  committed  to  Israel  by  the  prophet 
who  closes  the  canon  of  the  ancient  Scriptures, 
the  Holy  Spirit  sets  His  seal  to  the  identity  of  the 
Angel  of  the  Covenant,  whom  Isaiah  before  had 
referred  to  as  the  Angel  of  the  Presence,  and  whom 
Moses  had  known  as  the  Angel  of  the  Lord  and 
worshipped  as  Jehovah,  with  the  mysterious  Being 
who  should  come  to  redeem  Israel  and  the  world  : 
'  The  Lord,  whom  ye  seek,  shall  suddenly  come  to 
His  temple,  even  the  messenger  of  the  covenant, 
whom  ye  delight  in  ;  behold,  He  shall  come,  saith 


THE   ANGEL   OF  THE   PRESENCE          5 

the  Lord  of  Hosts.     But  who  may  abide  the  day 
of  His  coming  ?  ' l 

The  term  Angel,  or  Messenger,  as  it  is  here 
translated,  is  neither  in  this  passage  nor  elsewhere 
distinctive  of  nature,  but  of  office.  It  is  applied 
to  one  who  acts  for  another  as  ambassador  or 
apostle,  whether  man  or  angel ;  even  as  Christ 
speaks  of  Himself  as  sent  of  the  Father,  and  is 
called  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  the  Apostle 
of  our  Christian  confession.  Nor  does  the  designa 
tion  Angel  imply  any  manifestation  in  form,  such 
as  popular  imagination  ascribes  to  angels,  with 
accompaniment  of  wings  or  strangeness  of  aspect. 
The  Angel  of  the  Lord  did,  indeed,  call  to  Moses  out 
of  the  bush  wrapt  in  flame  yet  not  consumed  ; 
but,  when  He  appeared  to  Abraham  or  Joshua,  it 
was  in  the  likeness  of  man,  so  that  the  patriarch 
addressed  Him  as  a  traveller,  who  had  come  to  his 
tent  needing  refreshment  and  hospitality.2  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  it  is  as  men  in  shining  garments 
that  even  other  angel-messengers  are  seen  after  the 
Resurrection  and  Ascension  of  the  Lord.  That 
great  angel  also,  who  stands  in  the  presence  of 
God  and  was  sent  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  at  Nazareth, 
is  called  in  the  book  of  Daniel  '  the  man  Gabriel? 3 
Moreover,  it  is  quite  in  harmony  with  the  gracious 
purpose  of  the  Eternal  Son  to  take  upon  Him 
through  the  seed  of  Abraham  the  nature  of  man, 

1  Malachi  iii.  1,2.          2  Gen.  xviii.  3-5.  3  Dan.  ix.  21, 


6  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

that  He  should  prepare  the  world  for  such  an 
approach  on  the  part  of  God  to  man,  by  clothing 
Himself  as  with  light,  so  especially  with  the  likeness 
of  that  form  of  man,  which  He  meant  to  wear  on 
earth  and  for  ever  in  heaven,  and  which  may,  for 
all  that  we  know,  best  correspond  to  the  spiritual 
reality  of  the  Image  of  God,  after  which  man  was 
originally  created.  It  is,  of  course,  quite  beyond 
our  power  even  to  imagine  how  such  a  likeness 
was  assumed,  or  what  relation  it  could  bear,  as  a 
temporary  vesture,  to  the  Personality  behind  it. 
It  may  possibly  have  manifested,  when  He  willed, 
some  radiance  of  unearthly  beauty  or  expression 
of  Divine  Majesty.  The  wife  of  Manoah  tells  her 
husband  of  His  countenance,  c  as  the  countenance 
of  an  angel  of  God,  very  terrible,' 1  and  Nebuchad 
nezzar,  though  he  speaks  of  seeing  four  men,  yet 
adds  c  The  form  (or  look)  of  the  fourth  is  like  a  son 
of  the  gods.' 2 

But  the  great  point,  that  is  so  interesting  and 
helpful  for  us  to  dwell  upon,  is  that  the  character 
of  the  Angel  of  the  Lord,  as  manifested  in  its  grace 
and  truth  and  kindness  towards  man — especially 
towards  the  sinful  and  weak  and  out  of  the  way — 
is  so  entirely  at  one  in  its  main  features  with  the 
mind  of  God  as  revealed  by  Christ  when  men 
'  beheld  His  glory,  the  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten 
of  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and  truth.' 3  It  is  worthy 

1  Judges  xiii.  6.       2  Daniel  iii.  25,  R.V.       3  St.  John  i.  14. 


THE   ANGEL   OF  THE   PRESENCE          7 

of  note  that  the  first  recorded  appearance  of  the 
Angel  of  the  Lord,  under  that  name  (in  the  chapter 
immediately  following  one  in  which  the  term  '  Word 
of  God '  almost  suggests  personality),  is  in  connec 
tion  with  His  visit  to  the  fugitive  bondmaid  Hagar, 
when   '  the    Angel  of    the    Lord  found    her  by  a 
fountain  of  water  in  the  wilderness,'  and  questioned 
her  :  '  Whence  comest  thou  ?  and  whither  wilt  thou 
go  ?  ' l     This,  and    His    subsequent    dealing    with 
Hagar  when  Sarah  had  finally  cast  her  out,  put 
side   by   side,   may   be   compared   with   the   later 
manifestation  of  the  Christ  to  the  woman  of  Samaria 
by  the  well  of  Jacob.     In  both  instances  He  sur 
prises  us  by  using  up,  so  to  speak,  one  of  the  few 
opportunities  which  He    gives  for  His  revelation 
of  the  Divine,   in  the  one  case  with  an  outcast 
Egyptian  bondmaid,  in  the  other  with  a  woman 
of  Samaria  with  whom  the  Jews  would  have  no 
dealings.     On  both  occasions  He  reveals  His  perfect 
insight  into  all  the  life  and  circumstances,  which 
pressed  so  heavily  upon  the  hearts  of  the  women  ; 
so  much  so  that  Hagar  called  the  Name  of  the  Lord 
that  spake  unto  her  Thou  God  seest  me 2 — '  Thou  art 
the  God  of  seeing,'  and  the  Samaritan  woman  was 
most  impressed  by  her  experience  of  His  personal 
knowledge  :  '  He  told  me  all  that  ever  I  did' 3     In 
connection  with  both  manifestations  there  is  asso 
ciated  with  the  nearness  of  the  Lord  the  outward 

1  Gen.  xvi.  7,  8.  2  Gen.  xvi.  13.  3  St.  John  iv.  29. 


8  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

symbol  of  the  fountain  of  life,  type  of  the  living 
water  which  the  two  women  alike  so  profoundly 
needed.  In  His  words  to  both  of  these,  whose 
spiritual  thirst  He  would  quench,  there  is  the  claim 
for  more  than  human  power  and  authority.  Who 
else  but  the  Lord  of  life,  spiritual  and  physical, 
could  make  of  Hagar's  seed,  as  He  declared  He 
meant  to  do,  a  great  nation  not  to  be  numbered 
for  multitude  ;  or  claim  for  Himself  the  title  of  the 
Christ  and  the  power  of  giving  the  heavenly  '  water 
springing  up  into  everlasting  life  '  ? 

These  same  traits  of  human  interest  and  sympathy 
in  union  with  august  claims  to  Divine  worship 
and  to  supreme  authority,  are  attributed  quite 
naturally  in  various  accounts  of  His  actions  and 
words  to  Him  to  whom  St.  Stephen  refers1  as  having 
spoken  with  the  voice  of  the  Lord  from  the  bush, 
and  in  the  Mount  Sina  to  Moses,  when  He  claimed 
for  Himself  the  incommunicable  Name  and  such 
worship  as  could  not  be  offered  to  any  creature  in 
any  capacity  without  idolatry.  It  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that,  having  learnt  throughout  their 
history  something  of  His  truth  and  lovingkindness, 
the  people  of  Israel  made  sure  that  they  would 
delight  in  Him — love  to  have  Him  with  them — 
aye  !  they  would  certainly  seek  His  Face,  the  mani 
festation  of  His  glory  and  His  grace.  They  would 
look  for  His  coming  as  for  the  rising  of  a  Sun  of 

1  Acts  vii.  30-33,  38. 


THE   ANGEL  OF  THE   PRESENCE          9 

Righteousness,  and  for  His  healing  with  gracious 
fostering  beams  the  sad  and  drooping  life  of  Israel. 

But  they  knew  not  what  or  whom  they  were 
seeking,  though  they  might  have  known  His  character 
better  than  .they  did  ;  His  coming  could  only  be  a 
joy  to  such  as  would  offer  themselves  to  be  purified 
from  sin.  '  Who  shall  stand  when  He  appeareth  ?  ' 
Not  those  who  would  insist  on  some  sign  from 
heaven,  such  as  a  visible  escort  of  ten  thousands 
of  angels,  albeit  the  Messenger  of  the  Covenant 
might  indeed  be  Captain  of  the  armies  of  Heaven, 
and  twelve  legions  of  them  could  be  had  for  the 
asking.  On  the  contrary  the  Lord  would  come  to 
His  Temple  suddenly,  that  is,  all  unawares  to  them, 
because  of  His  humanness  and  humility,  in  a  very 
different  guise  from  their  idea  of  the  pomp  and 
circumstance  befitting  so  divine  an  advent.  He 
would  be  in  their  midst  before  more  than  a  few 
would  be  at  all  aware  that  He  was  at  hand.  Yet 
the  manner  of  His  coming  would  almost  naturally 
be  the  consummation  of  earlier  visits. 

In  the  manifestation  of  the  Angel  of  Jehovah 
to  Abraham  and  the  Patriarchs,  and  in  His  great 
Revelation  of  Himself  to  Moses,  it  is  especially  in 
the  Name  of  Jehovah,  as  the  Angel  of  the  Covenant, 
that  He  draws  near,  preparing  the  chosen  family 
and  nation  to  be  heirs  of  the  eternal  purpose  of 
blessing  and  the  Home  of  the  Incarnation.  And 


io  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

in  His  coming  it  is  abundantly  clear  that  no  other 
than  the  Lord  Himself  draws  near. 

As  Abraham  is  sitting  at  his  tent  door  l  he  is 
aware  of  three  men  who  stand  by  him  ;  and,  by  and 
by,  one  of  the  three  employs  the  language  and 
assumes  the  authority  of  a  Being  greater  than  the 
angels  by  whom  He  is  attended,  even  of  the  Lord 
for  whom  nothing  is  too  hard  and  no  self-abasement 
in  love  too  low.  As  Lord  of  all  life  He  promises 
that  Sarah  shall  have  a  son  ;  and,  anticipating  His 
own  sublime  treatment  of  His  Apostles  as  friends, 
He  does  not  hide  His  counsel  from  Abraham  His 
friend.  As  a  Person  with  a  person  He  is  entreated 
by  His  creature  as  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth,  who 
will  do  right,  but  who  is  willing  that  mercy  should 
prevail  against  judgment,  so  long  as  the  law  of  holy 
love  is  honoured.  Later  on,  knowing  what  He 
would  do  just  as  clearly  as  when  He  told  His  dis 
ciples  of  His  coming  crucifixion,  He  tries  and  proves 
Abraham,  who,  perhaps,  when  he  saw  fathers  and 
mothers  around  giving  their  firstborn  for  the  sin 
of  their  soul,  wondered  whether  he  really  loved  his 
God,  and  could  give  up  his  best  and  dearest  as  they 
were  ready  to  do.  The  institution  of  sacrifice  had 
been  perverted,  as  all  true  things  are,  by  Satan,  yet 
it  embodied  a  principle  underlying  the  everlasting 
relations  between  man  and  God,  and  especially  of 
sinful  man  with  the  Holy  God.  As  the  Revealing 

1  Genesis  xviii. 


THE   ANGEL   OF  THE   PRESENCE        n 

Angel  He  set  forth  in  a  figure  the  great  day  of  Christ 
seen  from  afar,  and  before  it  had  yet  dawned,  when 
He  should  be  lifted  up  and  glorified.  Through  a 
prophetic  action,  He  gave  a  pledge  of  the  eternal 
purpose  of  God  in  the  Atonement,  to  be  wrought  out 
in  time  by  the  Lamb,  slain  before  the  foundation 
of  the  world,  when  in  the  person  of  Isaac  all  Israel 
was  in  a  mystery  laid  upon  the  Altar  of  God.  It 
was  the  Angel  of  the  Lord  who  called  unto  Abraham 
out  of  heaven, — and  no  words  ever  addressed  to  man 
could  be  more  solemn,  more  entirely  the  words  of 
God  Himself  than  those  He  utters  1  :  '  By  Myself 
have  I  sworn,  saith  the  LORD,  for  because  thou  hast 
done  this  thing,  and  hast  not  withheld  thy  son, 
thine  only  son  :  that  in  blessing  I  will  bless  thee, 
and  in  multiplying  I  will  multiply  thy  seed  as  the 
stars  of  the  heaven,  and  as  the  sand  which  is  upon 
the  sea  shore  ;  and  thy  seed  shall  possess  the  gate  of 
his  enemies  ;  and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth  be  blessed  ;  because  thou  hast  obeyed 
My  voice.' 

Apart  from  its  heights  and  depths  of  awful 
significance,  one  result  of  this  '  greatest  deed  which 
did  not  become  a  deed '  wrought  at  the  bidding 
of  the  Angel  of  God  was,  that,  while  we  meet  with 
human  sacrifices  for  the  honour  and  propitiation  of 
the  Deity  amongst  almost  all  the  nations  of  the 
1  Gen.  xxii.  15-18. 


12  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

ancient  world,  Israel  alone,  so  far  as  it  did  not  lapse 
into  heathenism,  forms  a  striking  exception. 

Throughout  Jacob's  life  it  is  the  Angel,  as  he 
confesses,1  who  redeems  him  from  all  evil  and  leads 
him  all  the  years  of  his  pilgrimage,  educating  his 
character  out  of  its  meanness  into  princely  power 
with  God,  even  as  He  would  afterwards  patiently 
train  the  nation  itself.  The  Angel  of  God  is  in  fact 
identified  -  with  the  God  of  Bethel,  who  stood  above 
the  mystic  stairs,  sloping  up  from  earth  to  heaven, 
on  which  were  seen  the  hosts  of  God  ascending 
and  descending  upon  the  child  of  man  ;  nor  can 
we  be  in  the  dark,  after  what  Hosea  tells  us,  as  to 
whether  it  was  this  same  Angel  who  allowed  His 
omnipotency  to  be  overmatched  by  man's  weakness 
at  Peniel 3 :  'By  his  strength  he  had  power  with 
God  :  yea,  he  had  power  over  the  angel,  and  pre 
vailed  :  he  wept  and  made  supplication  unto  Him  : 
he  found  Him  in  Bethel,  and  then  He  spake  with 
us  ;  even  the  Lord  God  of  hosts  ;  the  Lord  is  his 
memorial.' 

Passing  on  through  the  bondage  of  Israel  in 
Egypt,  that  horror  of  darkness  felt  beforehand  by 
Abraham,4  let  us  with  Moses  turn  aside  to  see  the 
great  sight  on  Mount  Horeb.  It  is  the  Shechinah 
or  pillar  of  fire  in  which  the  bush  is  wrapped  but 
not  consumed.  And  out  of  the  flame,  the  voice 

1  Gen.  xlviii.  15,  16.  2  Gen.  xxxi.  n,  13. 

3  Hosea  xii.  3-5.  4  Gen.  xv.  12,  13. 


THE   ANGEL   OF  THE   PRESENCE        13 

of  the  Angel  of  the  Lord.  He  is  called  and  calls 
Himself  by  the  name  and  attributes  of  Jehovah, 
and  demands  all  the  reverence  with  which  the  Most 
High  is  worshipped.  We  mark  in  Him  the  same 
wonderful  contrasts  of  character  and  attributes,  in 
a  deep  underlying  unity,  as  we  have  noted  before. 
He  reveals  Himself  as  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac, 
and  Jacob.  He  is  the  Rock  on  which  all  being  rests 
throughout  eternity,  the  spiritual  Rock  of  His 
people,1  the  unchangeable  c  I  am,'  yet  One  who  may 
be  known  more  and  more  as  He  reveals  Himself  by 
word  and  deed,  even  as  the  disciples  who  believed 
in  Jesus  believed  yet  more  when  He  had  manifested 
His  glory  at  Cana  of  Galilee.  He  knows  all  the 
sorrows  of  His  people,  now  become  a  nation,  as 
He  had  known  those  of  Hagar  and  Jacob,  and  they 
will  learn  to  say  of  Him  with  the  prophet 2  :  '  In  all 
their  affliction  He  was  afflicted,  and  the  Angel  of 
His  Presence  saved  them  :  in  His  love  and  in  His 
pity  He  redeemed  them  ;  and  He  bare  them,  and 
carried  them  all  the  days  of  old.' 

In  the  unveiling  of  His  name  of  Jehovah  and 
of  the  purpose  of  redemption,  He  presides  over  the 
institution  of  Sacrifice  and  the  Ordinances  of  the 
earthly  tabernacle,  the  shadow  and  likeness  of  the 
true  Tabernacle  of  which  He  is  now  the  Minister  ; 
and  the  order  of  Priesthood  which  will  be  summed 
up  and  fulfilled  in  Him.  It  is  He,  the  Angel  of 

1   i  Cor.  x.  4.  -  Isaiah  Ixiii.  9. 


14  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

the  Face  or  Presence,  and  not,  as  Moses  feared  it 
would  be  at  one  time,  a  created  angel,  who  is  tried 
and  proved  in  the  wilderness,1  whose  Presence  goes 
with  Israel  on  its  journey.  It  is  no  other  than  He 
who  at  the  threshold  of  the  Land  of  Promise  shows 
Himself  before  the  walls  of  Jericho  to  Joshua  as  a 
man  with  a  drawn  sword  in  His  hand,  declaring  Him 
self  to  be  the  captain  of  Jehovah's  hosts.2  As  such 
He  proves  Himself  to  be  the  Lord  mighty  in  battle 
on  behalf  of  His  people  so  long  as  they  are  true  to 
His  laws  of  righteousness  and  truth,  and  is  seen  in 
the  vision  of  Isaiah  to  receive  the  worship  of  Seraphim 
as  the  Lord  of  Hosts.3  He  camps  around  the  just, 
with  angels  ascending  or  descending,  whether  the 
Hope  of  the  future  is  represented  by  a  single  wanderer 
like  Jacob,  or  by  a  whole  nation,  when  to  the  eyes 
that  are  opened  the  mountain  is  seen  to  be  full 
of  horses  of  fire  and  chariots  of  fire  round  about. 
He  is  leader  of  the  armies  on  behalf  of  His  Kingdom 
upon  earth  ;  but  He  is  no  less  the  giver  of  repent 
ance,  as  in  the  remarkable  appeal,  recorded  in  the 
Book  of  Judges,  which  the  Angel  of  the  Lord 
reproachfully  addresses  to  the  children  of  Israel 
at  the  place  of  weeping 4 :  '  I  made  you  to  go  up,' 
He  says  to  them,  '  out  of  Egypt,  and  have  brought 
you  into  the  land  which  I  sware  unto  your  fathers  ; 

1  i  Cor.  x.  2  Joshua  v.  13,  14. 

3  Isaiah  vi.  1-3.  «  Judges  ii.  i,  2. 


THE   ANGEL   OF  THE   PRESENCE        15 

.  .  .  but  ye  have  not  obeyed  My  voice  :  why  have 
ye  done  this  ?  ' 

Under  different  circumstances,  but  with  a  like 
consistency  to  the  unvarying  principles  of  regard 
for  truth  and  holiness,  and  condescension  to  the 
weakness  of  man,  the  Angel  of  the  Lord  is  recorded 
as  having  visited  Gideon  in  a  day  of  Israel's  sore 
affliction.  A  prophet  had  prepared  His  way  by 
preaching  repentance,  and  then  the  Angel  of  the 
Lord  Himself  appeared l  with  the  announcement 
'The  Lord  is  with  thee.'  Still  referring  to  the 
Angel,  the  narrator  tells  us  :  '  The  Lord  looked  upon 
him,  and  said,  Go  in  this  thy  might  .  .  .  have  not 
I  sent  thee  ?  '  After  the  sacrifice  is  accepted  and 
the  Altar  raised  to  the  Divine  Messenger  under 
the  title  of  '  The  Lord  our  Peace,'  his  mission  is 
confirmed  to  Gideon  by  the  signs  of  the  wet  and 
dry  fleece,  and  the  victory  is  gained  over  Midian 
with  the  war  cry,  '  The  sword  of  the  Lord  and  of 
Gideon.' 

Once  more,  as  before  Sodom  and  Gomorrha,  so 
upon  Jerusalem,  after  David's  sin  of  numbering  the 
people,2  this  same  Angel  of  the  Lord,  who  has 
executed  judgment  through  one  of  His  ministering 
angels,  Himself  stands  at  the  threshing-floor  to 
receive  and  hearken  to  the  supplication  of  the  King. 
And  on  the  mountain  of  Abraham's  sacrifice,3  where 

1  Judges  vi.  12,  14,  24.  2  i  Chron.  xxi.  16. 

s  i  Chron.  xxii.  I. 


i6  A  BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

of  old  He  was  moved  to  mercy,  the  Altar  is  raised 
to  be  the  centre  of  Israel's  worship,  until  the  Lord 
whom  they  sought,  the  Messenger  of  the  Covenant 
whom  they  made  their  delight,  should  at  the  last 
come  to  His  Temple. 

Before  the  Old  Testament  closes  with  this 
promise,  we  have  a  vision,  given  by  the  prophet 
Zechariah,1  of  Joshua  the  representative  of  Israel's 
restored  Priesthood  standing  before  the  Angel  of 
the  Lord,  a  fitting  object  in  his  filthy  garments, 
as  it  would  seem,  for  just  accusation  by  Satan. 
But  the  Angel  becomes  the  Advocate  to  take  the 
part  of  those  who  have  turned  to  Him  and  plead 
the  Holy  Covenant.  He  rebukes  the  adversary, 
clothes  His  servant  again  with  white  raiment,  and 
assures  Him  with  the  comfortable  words,  which 
only  the  Holy  One  of  God  has  any  right  to  use  : 
'  I  have  caused  thine  iniquity  to  pass  from  thee.' 
The  Angel  of  the  Lord  protests  unto  Joshua  with 
a  promise  of  confidence  for  the  present  and  the 
hope  of  much  greater  things  to  come. 

From  first  to  last,  whenever  He  comes  forth, 
whether  for  revelation  or  for  action,  to  an  individual 
or  to  the  nation  which  He  has  formed  and  guarded, 
with  a  message  of  mercy  or  of  judgment,  the  Angel 
of  the  Lord  is  one  and  the  same  in  character  ;  and 
in  that  wonderful  union  of  divine  and  human 
attributes  of  majesty  and  mercy,  we  recognise  the 

1  Zech.  iii. 


THE   ANGEL   OF   THE    PRESENCE         17 

spiritual  lineaments  of  Him  whom  Malachi  bade  his 
people  look  for  as  the  Angel  of  the  Covenant,  the 
Faithful  and  True,  no  other  than  the  Only-begotten 
Son  who  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  who  alone 
has  declared  and  revealed  the  Glory  of  God. 

If  not  He,  who  else  could  it  have  been  ?  Two 
alternatives  have  indeed  been  proposed.  The  first 
involves  a  theory  which  is  surely  quite  impossible 
to  accept  if  we  hold  that  it  was  the  special  mission 
of  the  Jewish  Church  to  assert  the  absolute  supre 
macy  of  the  One  God,  on  which  our  Lord  based 
the  law  of  worship  :  '  Thou  shalt  worship  the  Lord 
thy  God,  and  Him  only  shalt  thou  serve.' l  It  has 
been  suggested  that  the  Angel  of  the  Lord  was  a 
created  angel,  invested  temporarily,  for  a  particular 
occasion,  with  the  name  and  honour  of  the  Divine 
Being.  But  it  is  impossible  that  any  created  being 
could  assume  the  titles  and  claims  which  the  Angel 
of  the  Lord  is  recorded  as  doing,  without  pre 
sumptuously  usurping  the  prerogatives  of  the 
supreme  God.  And  how  could  the  Jewish  Church, 
or  any  member  of  it,  have  been  encouraged  by  such 
records  to  offer  worship,  which  could  only  be  rendered 
to  the  Most  High,  without  incurring  the  guilt  of 
idolatry,  the  sin  from  first  to  last  in  Israel's  history 
most  strongly  reprobated  and  denounced  ? 

The  second  alternative  is  a  view  which  probably 
1  St.  Matt.  iv.  10. 

c 


i8  A   BOOK   OF    ANGELS 

and  not  unnaturally  was  generally  taken  by  the 
Church  of  the  Old  Covenant,  whose  special  witness 
was  to  the  Unity  of  God — that  the  Angel  of  the 
Lord  was  the  one  only  Jehovah  in  personal  manifesta 
tion,  the  one  only  God  in  active  energy  of  visitation. 
In  this  relation,  as  drawing  near  to  man,  He  would 
be  one  and  the  same  Person  as  the  Father  of  the 
spirits  of  all  flesh,  whom,  apart  from  such  manifesta 
tion,  no  man  hath  seen  or  can  see.  This  theory  would 
account  for  the  claims  to  the  prerogatives  and 
attributes  of  Godhead  constantly  made  by  the 
Angel  of  Jehovah,  but  leaves  unexplained  the 
very  clear  utterances  of  distinction  of  Persons, 
as,  for  example,  when  the  Angel  of  the  Lord  speaks 
of  Himself  as  sent  by  Jehovah,  and  at  the  same 
time  as  being  Himself  Jehovah.  Such  a  distinction 
of  Persons  could  not  indeed  have  been  consciously 
present  to  the  Jewish  mind,  but  it  was  stored  up 
in  the  sacred  records,  waiting  to  be  interpreted  by 
the  subsequent  history  of  revelation,  until  it  was 
fulfilled  through  the  Incarnation.  The  wonder  of 
the  Old  Testament  is  that  it  was  adequate  for 
revelation  with  practical  messages  to  the  faithful 
for  their  own  dispensation,  and  yet  guarded  as  a 
hidden  treasure  the  deepest  truths  of  God  and  man 
and  their  true  relation  to  one  another,  to  be  after 
wards  disclosed  in  the  fulness  of  time.  This  is  a 
most  convincing  evidence  for  its  Divine  authority, 


THE   ANGEL   OF  THE   PRESENCE        19 

which  has  to  be  recognised  no  less  than  the 
human  element  so  strongly  emphasised  by  recent 
criticism. 

A  revelation  such  as  was  given  in  the  days  of 
old  by  the  Angel  of  the  Lord  answered  the  great 
need  of  the  human  heart  in  maintaining  union  with 
God  and  fellowship  with  heaven,  while  it  prepared 
the  way  for  faith  in  the  Incarnation  of  the  Eternal 
Son.  As  Professor  Ramsay  says  :  '  The  problem 
which  was  constantly  present  to  the  ancient  mind  in 
thinking  of  the  relation  of  man  to  God  '  is  expressed 
in  '  the  question,  How  can  the  gulf  which  divides 
human  nature  from  the  Divine  Nature  be  bridged 
over  ?  How  can  God  become  in  effective  relation 
to  man  ? ' 

The  myths  and  legends  of  the  old  world,  with 
their  tales  of  appearances  and  visits  of  the  gods,  may 
be  taken  either  as  perversions  of  a  true  tradition 
or  of  an  instinctive  anticipation  of  the  human  mind 
framing  its  hopes  for  the  future  under  these  distorted 
images. 

The  character  of  the  Old  Testament  manifesta 
tions  in  contrast  with  the  legends  of  paganism  is 
seen  in  the  sublime  dignity  and  uncompromising 
holiness  of  the  Person  who  visits  man,  no  less  than 
in  the  human  sympathy  and  condescension  to  man 
adapted  to  the  actual  state  of  his  development. 
It  helped  to  save  humanity  through  the  chosen 
people  from  despair  and  recklessness  when  it  was 

c  z 


20  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

tempted  to  echo  the  cry  of  the  apostates  in  the 
prophet's  vision,  '  The  Lord  hath  forsaken  the 
earth,  and  the  Lord  seeth  not.' l 

A.  B.  W.,  Bp. 


Notes 

Dr.  Pusey  in  Lectures  VIII.  and  IX.  on  the  Book  of  Daniel, 
pp.  517-529,  seems  to  take  the  view  that  'The  Angel  of  the 
Lord '  throughout  the  Old  Testament  is  probably  a  created 
Angel,  with  special  Divine  Presence.  But  he  suggests  that  in 
him  '  God  accustomed  His  creatures  to  the  thought  of  beholding 
Himself  in  human  form  '  ;  and  some  of  his  remarks  are  difficult 
to  reconcile  with  any  theory  of  this  Angel  being  other  than  the 
Son  of  God. 

Dr.  Liddon  in  his  Bampton  Lectures  on  the  Divinity  of 
our  Lord  tells  us  (Lecture  II.  i,  /3)  that  the  earliest  fathers 
answered  the  question,  Who  was  the  Angel  ?  with  general 
unanimity  that  he  was  the  Word  or  Son  of  God  Himself.  It 
was  the  Arian  controversy  which  probably  led  to  the  adoption 
of  the  theory  that  the  Theophanies  were  not  direct  appear 
ances  of  a  Person  in  the  Godhead,  but  self-manifestations  of 
God  through  a  created  being. 

Canon  Cheyne  has  lately  in  his  Bible  Problems  (Note  iv.  to 
p.  73)  put  forth  a  theory  that  the  Being  resembling  a  son  of 
man  in  Dan.  vii.  13  is  to  be  identified  both  with  the  Messiah 
and  with  the  '  great  prince  '  Michael,  and  that  Michael  is  no 
other  than  the  Babylonian  Marduk  or  Merodack,  apparently 
taken  over  by  Hebrew  theology  !  He  accepts  as  a  fact  that 
'  the  Angel  of  Yah  we  is  not  a  mere  messenger  of  Yahwe,  but 
equivalent  to  Yahw&  or  Elohim  himself.' 

In  the  article  on  'Angel,'  §  ii.,  by  Dr.  A.  B.  Davidson,  in 
Hastings's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  it  is  allowed  that  the  '  Angel 
of  the  Lord  is  a  self-manifestation  of  God.'  The  '  Angel  of  His 
face  (presence)  is  not  one  who  sees  His  face  or  stands  before  it, 
but  one  in  whom  His  face  (presence)  is  reflected  and  seen.' 

1  Ezek.  ix.  9. 


CHAPTER  II 

H  Survey  of  Scripture  IReferences  to  Hn^eltc 
/HMnistrations 

Up  to  such  myriads  do  these  natures  mount, 

That  they  surpass  our  finite  faculties  ; 

Nor  tongue,  nor  fancy  may  their  numbers  count. 

DANTE. 


ANGELS  IN  THE  LANTERN.  ELY  CATHEDRAL. 

<T.  Gambier  Parry,    1S73.I 


THINE  Angels,  Christ !  we  laud  in  solemn  lays, 
Our  elder  brethren  of  the  crystal  sky. 

Who  'mid  Thy  glory's  blaze 

The  ceaseless  anthems  raise, 
And  gird  Thy  Throne  in  faithful  ministry. 

We  celebrate  their  love,  whose  viewless  wing 
Hath  left  for  us  so  oft  their  mansion  high, 

The  mercies  of  their  King 

To  mortal  saints  to  bring 
Or  guard  the  couch  of  slumbering  infancy. 

But  Thee  the  First  and  Last,  we  glorify, 
Who,  when  Thy  world  was  sunk  in  death  and  sin, 

Not  with  Thine  hierarchy, 

The  armies  of  the  sky, 
But  didst  with  Thine  own  arm  the  battle  win. 

Therefore,  with  angels  and  archangels  we 
To  Thy  dear  love  our  thankful  chorus  raise, 

And  tune  our  songs  to  Thee 

Who  art,  and  art  to  be, 

And,  endless  as  Thy  mercies,  sound  Thy  praise  ! 
Bishop  Reginald  Heber  (1783-1826). 


H  Survey  of  Scripture  IReferences  to 
/iDintstratfons 


IT  would  be  an  inadequate  description  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  to  say  that  they  are  a  revelation  con 
cerning  God  and  man.  They  are  as  truly  a  revela 
tion  concerning  the  angels.  And  this  not  merely 
indirectly,  as  the  angels  are  connected  with  us,  but 
directly,  as  to  themselves,  irrespectively  of  us.  The 
original  contest  between  the  good  and  evil  angels, — 
the  difference  as  to  the  present  condition  of  the 
one  portion  of  the  heavenly  host,  who  '  kept  their 
first  estate,'  and  of  the  others  who  fell, — these  facts 
of  their  history  are  clearly  revealed  to  us. 

It  has  been  attempted  to  resolve  angelic  appear 
ances  into  mere  subjective  visions  of  the  mind 
itself,  illusory  forms  projected  by  the  heated  and 
devout  imagination,  through  its  own  creative  energy, 
or  to  account  for  them  objectively  by  the  supposi 
tion  of  the  Divine  power  giving  mere  temporary 
visible  shapes  to  a  Divine  message,  forming  a  kind 
of  phantasmagoria  of  an  inner  world,  produced  for 
the  occasion,  in  order  to  impress  the  outward  sense 
more  vividly  than  by  mere  words. 


A  SURVEY  OF  SCRIPTURE  REFERENCES  25 

That  we  are  indeed  entirely  unable  to  explain 
how  the  angels'  spiritual  bodies  (for  bodies  of  some 
refined  subtlety  they  have  ever  been  supposed  to 
possess)  can  be  adapted  to  human  organs  of  sight, 
that  we  can  form  no  real  idea  even  of  such  a  pos 
sibility,  is  evident.  But  it  would  be  unreasonable 
to  doubt  the  possibility  of  God  causing  them,  as 
He  will,  to  appear  to  whom  He  will,  or  to  give 
power  to  human  eyes  to  discern  their  more  subtle 
forms,  imparting  temporary  visibility  to  what 
ordinarily  would  be  invisible.  And  surely  the 
attempt  to  explain  these  mysterious  appearances 
on  the  theory  of  subjective  ideas,  or  temporary 
phantom  shapes,  is  wholly  forced,  is  simply  to  take 
Holy  Scripture  in  a  non-natural  sense,  and  is  un- 
philosophical,  as  being  manifestly  inadequate  to 
account  for  the  undeniable  phenomena  of  the  case. 

For  it  is  not  merely  the  appearances  of  angels 
to  prophets  and  seers  in  ecstasy  ;  not  merely  the 
occurrence  of  their  presence  in  the  poetical  books 
of  Scripture  ;  not  merely  communications  from  God 
to  the  mind  of  lonely  watchers,  and  meditative 
hermits,  such  as  the  forms  arrayed  in  gorgeous  light 
and  awful  grandeur,  which  appeared  to  Daniel  when 
he  prostrated  himself  and  fell  as  one  dead,  on  the 
banks  of  *  the  river  Ulai,'  '  for  which  we  have  to 
account.  The  visits  of  the  angels  are  described 
equally  in  prosaic  historical  books.  Nothing  can 

1  Daniel  viii.  2. 


26  A  BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

be  more  naturally  interwoven  with  the  ordinary 
narrative  of  common  events  than  a  great  proportion 
of  the  angelic  appearances  recorded  in  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures,  such  as  the  angel  that  ap 
peared  to  Hagar  l  in  the  wilderness,  or  the  two  who 
went  down  to  Sodom  to  rescue  Lot 2  and  destroy 
those  doomed  cities,  or  the  angel  that  met  Balaam 
by  the  way.3  Nor  were  these  appearances  visible 
merely  at  particular  crises,  as,  e.g.,  times  of  religious 
excitement,  when  men  are  specially  open  to  dream 
dreams,  and  indulge  in  exaggerations  of  idea  and 
visionary  conceptions  ;  or  periods  of  darker  intel 
ligence,  when  men  are  specially  subject  to  hallu 
cinations  and  superstitious  belief  as  to  invisible 
presences.  The  appearances  of  angels  extend 
throughout  the  Scriptures.  They  people  the  scenes 
of  the  sacred  history,  indeed,  more  fully  at  one  period 
of  man's  history  than  another ;  but  only  with  such 
differences  as  are  readily  accounted  for  by  the  more 
or  less  urgent  call  for  Divine  interpositions,  or  the 
greater  or  less  prominence  with  which  the  designs 
of  God  required  to  be  impressed  on  the  minds  of 
His  people.  Angels  are  not  more  clearly  seen 
around  the  gates  of  Paradise,  at  the  beginning  of 
man's  history,  than  they  are  represented  as  about 
to  be  present  at  its  close.  They  are  as  fully  con 
cerned  with  the  events  of  the  Revelation  of  St. 
John  as  they  are  with  the  events  of  the  Book  of 

1  Gen.  xvi.  7.  2  Gen.  xix.  i.  3  Numbers  xxii.  22. 


A  SURVEY  OF  SCRIPTURE  REFERENCES  27 

Genesis.  The  Scripture  history  of  mankind  opens 
with  the  angels  already  on  the  stage  of  this  lower 
world,  actively  engaged.  It  is  revealed  that  they 
will  be  as  actively  at  work  when  it  has  run  out  its 
predestined  course.  The  angels  indeed  group 
themselves  in  greater  apparent  numbers,  and  seem 
more  intensely  employed  at  certain  great  crises  of 
our  history — as,  e.g.,  on  Mount  Sinai,  during  the 
delivery  of  the  Law— or  during  the  earthly  life  of 
the  Incarnate  God.  But  the  simplest  view  of 
Scripture  assures  us  that,  from  the  earliest  to  the 
latest  epoch  of  man's  destiny,  these  blessed  and 
glorious  beings  have  a  co-ordinate  and  co-extensive 
part  to  play  on  the  same  stage  of  life,  in  which  our 
own  lot  and  probation  are  cast. 

Moreover,  this  connection  between  angels  and 
men  is  not  a  mere  casual  or  extraordinary  inter 
position  with  human  affairs,  but  is  evidently  an 
uniform  appointment  ordered  and  maintained  on  a 
settled  plan.  Their  movements  are  not  mere  acci 
dents  of  our  state.  To  take  first  the  lowest  form 
of  their  ministration,  they  are  represented  as  the 
active  agents  of  the  laws  of  matter,  which  so  closely 
affect  us.  They  inflict  or  save  from  death,  as  in 
Egypt  during  the  Exodus.  They  cause  or  remove 
pestilences,  as  in  David's  history.  They  bind  or 
unloose  the  winds,  as  in  Revelation. 

They  act,  of  course,  only  under  the  guiding  and 
restraining  Will  of  God.  They  are  subject  wholly 


28  A   BOOK  OF   ANGELS 

to  His  law.  But  they  are  as  truly  personal  agents 
in  the  disposition  of  the  subtle  organisations  and 
operations  of  His  material  kingdoms,  within  their 
sphere  of  power,  and  are  as  energetically  at  work 
around  and  within  us,  as  we  can  be  in  our  own 
sphere. 

But  what  touches  us  more  deeply,  more  closely 
far,  is  the  energy  of  angelic  ministrations  in  our 
supernatural  life.  Throughout  the  Old  Testament 
there  are  indications  of  a  constant  struggle  being 
maintained  on  behalf  of  God's  elect  by  the  good 
angels,  who  are  in  constant  conflict  with  the  evil 
angels.  On  the  one  side,  the  side  of  the  evil,  there 
is  the  constant  effort  not  merely  to  turn  the  forces 
of  nature  against  man,  but  also  to  assault  him  in 
his  inner  life,  to  ruin  his  spiritual  hopes,  and  mar 
for  ever  his  glorious  destiny.  On  the  other  side, 
the  side  of  the  good  angels,  there  is  equally  a  con 
stant  counterplotting  and  earnest  antagonistic  strife, 
to  maintain  the  struggling  faithful  among  men,  to 
ward  off  evil  from  them,  to  direct  all  events  to  their 
good,  to  guide,  console,  empower,  animate  them, 
never  leaving  them,  till  the  mission  of  loving 
sympathy  and  constant  interposition  has  fulfilled 
its  predestined  end.  .  .  . 

But  more  especially  we  can  discern,  through  the 
outward  veil,  the  thrill  and  glow  which  has  ever 
pervaded  the  holy  angels  in  fulfilling  the  charge 
committed  to  them  in  the  gradual  developing  of 


A  SURVEY  OF  SCRIPTURE  REFERENCES  29 

the  Incarnation  of  God.  Their  intense  watchful 
ness  to  penetrate  the  secret ;  their  earnest  care  of 
those  more  favoured  ones  who  were  preparing  the 
way,  as  types  or  forerunners  of  the  Advent  of  Jesus, 
as  specially  shown  in  the  family  life  of  Abraham 
and  Jacob  ;  and  then  the  ecstasy  of  angelic  song 
which  heralded  the  Nativity  of  Christ,  and  their 
composed,  reverent  eagerness  as  they  watched 
around  the  Sepulchre  ;  and  ever  afterwards  the  fer 
vent  action  of  the  angels  moving  with  and  around 
our  Lord,  in  the  heavenly  order  of  His  Life  sub 
sequent  to  His  Ascension,  of  which  the  visions  of 
St.  John  speak  ;  and  on  earth  their  '  joy  over  one 
sinner  that  repent eth,'  their  care  of  '  the  little  ones  ' 
of  Christ,  and  their  last  office  of  love  to  the  de 
parting  souls  of  the  elect  '  carried  by  the  angels  ' 
into  Paradise, — these  revealed  representations  of 
their  concern  in  man,  thus  more  constantly  and 
more  energetically  stirred,  prove  that  a  new  spring 
of  life  and  love  towards  man  had  been  imparted  to 
the  angelic  natures  in  union  with  the  Incarnation  of 
God.  They  are  quickened  in  themselves  to  a  more 
vivid  joy,  a  more  glowing  adoration,  a  more  fervent 
charity  towards  man  as  the  object  of  Divine  care 
in  Christ ;  bound  to  a  dearer,  more  absorbing 
care,  because  of  the  tabernacling  of  God  in  human 
flesh. 

The  promise  given  to  Nathaniel,  as  the  type  of 
the  true  Israelite,  that  he  should  see  *  the  angels  of 


30  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

God  ascending  and  descending  upon  the  Son  of 
Man,'  1  seems  to  speak  of  this  new  order  of  angelic 
agency  ;  so  new,  that  language  is  used  by  our  Lord 
which  at  first  sight  implies  that  not  till  then  had 
the  interposition  of  angels  really  begun  ;  that  only 
then  the  heavens  would  be  opened,  and  the  descent 
and  ascent  of  angels  begin.  In  using  the  term 
*  Son  of  Man  '  in  connection  with  that  promise — a 
term  which  always  implies  our  Lord's  human  rela 
tion  to  His  elect — He  includes  His  elect  of  all  times 
with  Himself,  as  being  thus  destined  to  be  more 
nearly  related  to  the  angel  host,  more  specially 
objects  of  a  fresh  development  of  their  care  and 
love. 

And  certainly  a  very  marked  difference  is  to  be 
discerned  between  the  angelic  ministrations  of  the 
older  time  and  those  of  the  new  dispensation. 
During  the  older  time  the  action  of  angels,  as  re 
vealed  to  us,  was  on  a  large  scale,  affecting  the 
concerns  of  nations  and  kingdoms,  and  of  families 
only  inasmuch  as  the  elect  race  was  confined  to  a 
family,  the  patriarchal  line  through  which  the 
Messiah  was  to  come.  But  nothing  is  said  in  the 
Old  Testament  of  the  individuality  of  the  angels' 
care ;  of  its  extending  to  all  the  elect ;  of  a  special 
relation  of  angels  to  individuals,  because  of  their 
individual  relation  to  God ;  of  such  an  extent  of 
angelic  ministrations  as  would  bring  them  home  to 

1  St.  John  i.  51 


A  SURVEY  OF  SCRIPTURE   REFERENCES  31 

every  man's  private  and  personal  consciousness,  as 
his  own  special  support  and  joy.  There  were  indi 
cations,  no  doubt,  partial  illustrations,  of  such  a 
law  in  the  Old  Testament,  but  they  are  rare  and 
exceptional.  To  look  at  the  Old  Testament  only,  one 
would  have  said  that  angel  guardianship,  and  angels' 
secret  communion,  was  reserved  as  the  privilege  of 
great  typical  personages,  as  patriarchs  or  prophets, 
or  of  great  collective  hosts  of  the  elect  people,  but 
not  of  an  elect  soul  as  such  ;  nor  if  an  angel  were 
an  occasional  visitant  in  any  case,  that  he  could, 
so  to  speak,  be  depended  on  as  a  constant  com 
panion,  a  sure  ministrant  of  Divine  love  and  care 
at  all  times,  *  in  all  our  ways.' 

This  new  and  most  eventful  truth  is  one  great 
distinguishing  feature  of  the  revelations  of  angel  life 
in  the  New,  as  contrasted  with  those  of  the  Old 
Testament.  There  for  the  first  time  we  hear  our 
Blessed  Lord  speaking  of  all  His  members,  all  His 
little  ones,  and  saying  that  their  angels  do  always 
behold  the  Face  of  *  His  Father  which  is  in  heaven.'  l 
The  words  assert  this  great  truth  of  one  equally  as 
of  another.  His  apostle  unfolds  yet  further  this 
great  revelation  when  he  says  that  the  angels  are 
'  ministering  spirits,  sent  forth  to  minister  for  them 
who  shall  be  heirs  of  salvation  ' 2  ;  language  which 
equally  includes  all  alike,  all  as  '  heirs,'  therefore 
without  personal  distinction.  And  the  same  Apostle 
1  St.  Matt,  xviii.  10.  .  -  Heb.  i.  14. 


32  A   BOOK  OF  ANGELS 

asserts  the  same  universality  of  individual  privi 
lege,  when,  speaking  alike  to  all  to  whom  his 
epistles  are  addressed,  he  says  :  '  Ye  are  come  unto 
Mount  Sion,  and  unto  the  city  of  the  living  God, 
the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  and  to  an  innumerable 
company  of  angels.'  l 

The  Church's  traditional  faith  has  been  grounded 
on  these  pregnant  passages.  On  these  momentous 
words  rests  the  belief  of  the  guardian  angels  of 
baptized  souls,  of  the  daily  care,  the  watchful 
protection,  the  ceaseless,  countless  ministries  of 
love  and  power,  which  are  around  every  child  of 
God's  eternal  adoption.  This  faith  has  grown 
out  of  these  precious  words  of  Jesus  and  His 
Apostles.  They  involved,  therefore,  a  very  marked 
change  as  to  the  faith  regarding  angels  ;  for  there 
was  revealed  not  merely  a  greater  intensity  of 
interest  and  care,  because  of  the  great  momentous- 
ness  of  the  charge  of  souls  in  whom  God  dwells, 
for  whom  God  suffered  and  died,  for  whom  the  un 
ceasing  Sacrifice  and  Intercession  of  the  Lamb  of 
God  are  being  offered, — but  the  individuality  of  it, 
the  like  care  extended  to  each,  and  its  unceasing- 
ness  from  the  font  to  the  grave,  through  the  grave 
to  Paradise,  and  beyond  Paradise  to  Heaven.  The 
Fathers  drew  out  this  great  truth  always  implying 
its  intimate  connection  with  the  Incarnation  of 
God.  .  .  . 

1  Heb.  xii.  22. 


A  SURVEY  OF  SCRIPTURE  REFERENCES    33 

It  is  clear  that  this  belief  has  ever  been  a  very 
practical  one ;  and  indeed  how  can  we  for  a 
moment  suppose  that  such  an  array  of  heavenly 
beings,  so  powerful,  so  ardent,  so  intense  in  action 
and  love,  can  be,  as  they  are  sometimes  regarded, 
the  mere  decorative  features  of  a  poetic  religion, 
the  beautiful  imagery  of  the  rapt  moods  of  the 
devout  mind  ? 

Nor  is  it  less  sure  that  their  aid  is  of  the  most 
intimate  and  personal  kind,  although  much  mystery 
still  hangs  around  the  kind  of  communion  which 
they  are  permitted  to  hold  with  us,  and  we  have 
reverently  to  gather  it  by  inference  rather  than  by 
direct  revelation.  It  would  seem  that  as  a  tend 
ency  to  the  *  worshipping  of  angels ' x  developed 
itself  even  in  the  apostolic  age,  possibly  on  this 
account  a  reserve  was  kept  as  to  the  greatness  of 
our  obligations  to  these  blessed  guardians,  lest  in 
the  instruments  and  agents  of  the  Divine  care  we 
should  lose  the  constant  sense  of  the  supreme 
Author  both  of  their  and  our  life.  Even  St.  John 
needed  a  warning  to  preserve  in  his  mind  the  clear 
assurance,  that  notwithstanding  all  their  greatness 
and  their  power  to  aid,  they  are  but  *  fellow-ser 
vants.'  2  But  if  careful  to  take  heed  to  such  warn 
ings,  we  may  safely  cherish  for  our  stay  and  com 
fort,  and  in  reverent  regard  to  them  for  their  kind 
ness  towards  us,  profound  and  earnest  thoughts  of 

1  Col.  ii.  18.  2  Rev.  xix.  10 ;  xxii.  9. 

D 


34  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

their  succour  and  defence,  which,  according  to  the 
Will  of  God,  they  never  cease  to  supply  to  us  in 
our  need. 

.  .  .  With  the  certain  knowledge  revealed  to  us 
of  the  influence  of  evil  angels,  may  we  not  conclude 
that  no  less  power  is  being  exercised  by  the  unfallen 
angels,  who  still  delight  to  use  it  as  God  gave,  and 
designed  it ;  that  the  good  angels  not  merely  sur 
round  us  to  contend  against  the  assaults  of  the  evil 
'  principalities  and  powers,'  who  would  destroy  us  ; 
not  merely  that  they  succour  and  defend  us  with 
their  countless  services  of  loving  and  watchful  care 
to  aid  our  weakness,  or  supply  our  need  ;  but  that 
also,  in  union  with  God,  they  influence  our  inner 
life,  suggest  holy  thoughts,  captivate  our  imagina 
tions,  stir  our  wills,  illumine  our  understandings, 
aid  our  efforts,  direct  our  energies,  and,  holding 
secret  communion  of  spirit  with  spirit,  within  our 
spirits,  minister  to  us  the  gracious  gifts  of  God  ? 
How  such  subordinate  ministries  are  combined  with 
the  working  of  the  All-Holy  Spirit  Himself,  we 
know  not ;  yet  in  acknowledging  the  instrumentality 
of  the  lower  agency  we  are  not  excluding  Himself, 
the  Source  of  power.  .  .  . 

The  invisible  angels  are  to  us  in  the  spiritual 
world  what  the  thousandfold  ten  thousand  minis 
trations  of  visible  creatures  around  us  are  in  the 
natural  world.  We  cannot  indeed  interchange 
sensible  intercourse  with  the  angels  that  aid  and 


A  SURVEY  OF  SCRIPTURE  REFERENCES    35 

defend  us,  but  when  their  charge  is  fulfilled  in 
bearing  our  souls  to  the  Lord,  we  shall  rejoice  the 
more  that  we  have  believed  the  truth  and  love 
of  God  in  ordaining  for  us  their  unseen  agencies, 
even  as  we  trusted  to  His  innumerable  visible 
agencies. 

Our  mission  in  the  world  is,  together  with  the 
holy  angels,  and  through  their  aid,  to  uphold  the 
cause  of  God  against  the  evil  powers  which  oppose 
Him  ;  to  contend  earnestly  against  whatever  He 
has  condemned  ;  to  be  jealous  of  His  honour ;  to  be 
zealous  of  His  commands.  This  was  man's  original 
call  when  he  was  placed,  not  as  his  first  position, 
but  by  grace,  in  the  Garden  of  Eden,  with  angels  as 
his  companions,  '  to  keep  it '  for  God  against  the 
evil  which  then  assailed  it.  Man  failed,  and  fell. 
But  the  call  and  the  power  to  fulfil  the  call  was 
without  repentance,  and  is  revived  again  in  Christ. 
In  our  blessed  Lord,  our  true  representative,  in  the 
wilderness  of  temptation,  ministered  to  by  angels, 
and  assaulted  by  Satan,  we  see  the  renewed  man', 
we  see  our  present  lot.  Surrounded  on  all  sides  by 
what  tempts  the  eye,  deceives  the  heart,  captivates 
the  senses,  bewilders  the  understanding,  shakes  the 
faith,  the  loyalty,  the  allegiance,  the  steadfastness 
of  our  frail  nature,  we  are  subjected  to  our  course 
of  trial.  But  angels  are  at  our  side,  and  God 
above,  around,  beneath,  within  us,  to  uphold,  to 
fortify,  to  preserve  us,  if  only  with  His  words  on 


D  2 


36  A  BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

our  lips,  and  His  Will  in  our  hearts,  we  stand 
firm. 

Placed  thus  we  are  in  this  lower  world,  as  having 
dominion  over  the  creatures,  and  as  representative 
of  the  God-Man,  to  keep  ourselves  pure  ;  to  be 
strong  for  the  truth  and  love,  the  beauty  and  the 
glory  of  a  higher  world.  While  we  have  the  con 
fidence,  as  we  trust  to  our  Lord,  that  He  will  sustain 
us,  as  He  sustained  Himself,  because  we  are  His, 
we  have  the  assurance  also  that  we  are  not  merely 
surrounded  by  visible  objects,  but  that  we  dwell  in 
the  midst  of  an  invisible  world,  a  world  of  most 
energetic  and  glorious  life,  a  world  of  spiritual 
beings,  in  comparison  with  whom  we  are  '  made  a 
little  lower '  1  for  awhile,  that  at  last  we  may  be 
raised  above  them,  when  all  things  shall  be  put 
under  our  feet,  because  Christ  is  so  raised,  and  we 
are  of  Him,  and  in  Him,  nearest  to  His  Throne, 
fellow-heirs  of  His  Glory. 

Thus  girt  about  with  angels,  we  are  set  to  keep 
the  charge  of  God.  .  .  . 

While  we  bear  in  our  heart  the  consciousness  of 
the  Presence  in  which  *  we  live,  and  move,  and 
have  our  being,'  and  of  the  heavenly  hosts  around 
us,  shall  we  not  be  strong  to  resist  temptation 
in  deed,  in  word,  or  in  thought  ? 

We  are  on  our  probation  ;  and  the  history  of 
the  angels  is  a  warning,  if  the  hour  of  our  probation 

1  Heb.  ii.  7. 


A  SURVEY  OF  SCRIPTURE  REFERENCES    37 

pass,  and  we  are  faithless  found  among  the  faithful, 
unconformed  to  the  Will  of  God,  not  having  served 
Him  acceptably  according  to  His  purpose. 

T.  T.  Carter  (1808-1901). 


Fear  not :  for  they  that  be  with  us  are  more  than  they  that 
be  with  them. 

And  Elisha  prayed,  and  said,  Lord,  I  pray  thee,  open  his 
eyes,  that  he  may  see.  And  the  Lord  opened  the  eyes  of  the 
young  man  ;  and  he  saw. — 2  Kings  vi.  16,  17. 

WE  cannot  separate  ourselves  from  the  great 
human  conviction  that  beside  the  supreme  personal 
life  of  God,  which  is  the  source  of  all  existence, 
there  are  other  spiritual  beings,  of  many  varying 
orders,  who  do  His  Will,  who  help  His  children, 
and  are  the  emanations  of  His  life,  in  other  worlds 
as  man  is  here  in  this  grosser  world  of  flesh  and 
blood.  The  Divine  existence  multiplies  itself.  The 
company  of  spiritual  beings  who  surround  Him 
with  their  loyalty  and  love,  the  angels  in  countless 
orders  sweeping  upward  from  the  ministers  of  man's 
lower  wants  up  to  those  who  stand  nearest  to  the 
Throne — all  these  in  some  belief  or  other  have  been 
included  in  the  faith  of  every  race  of  men,  of  almost 
every  man,  who  had  come  to  the  knowledge  of  a 
spiritual  world  and  trusted  in  a  God.  We  must  not 
rob  ourselves  of  the  strength  and  richness  that  the 
thought  of  their  existence  has  to  give. 

What  shall  we  say,  for  instance,  of  the  beings 
whom  the  young  man  saw  gathered  in  the  moun 
tain  when  his  eyes  were  open  ?  Were  they  flesh- 
and-blood  warriors  like  the  Syrian  army  camped 


38  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

there  in  the  plain  below  .-•  Were  they  mere  ideas, 
visions  that  had  no  objective  reality  whatever,  the 
mere  pictures  of  a  dream  ?  If  we  had  not  become 
such  Sadducees  in  our  disbelief  of  spiritual  exist 
ence,  we  should  not  find  it  hard  to  believe  that  it 
was  neither  of  these,  but  that  with  his  newly- 
opened  eyes  he  did  indeed  see  beings  of  some 
higher  spiritual  order,  who  are  always  busy  about 
this  world  of  ours,  only  not  visible  to  the  dull  senses 
of  our  ordinary  life. 

Certainly  there  is  nothing  clearer  or  more 
striking  in  the  Bible  than  the  calm,  familiar  way 
with  which,  from  end  to  end  it  assumes  the  present 
existence  of  a  world  of  spiritual  beings,  always  close 
to  and  acting  on  this  world  of  flesh  and  blood.  It 
does  not  belong  to  any  one  part  of  the  Bible.  It 
runs  throughout  its  whole  vast  range.  From  crea 
tion  to  judgment,  the  spiritual  beings  are  for  ever 
present.  They  act  as  truly  in  the  drama  as  the 
men  and  women  who,  with  their  unmistakable 
humanity,  walk  the  sacred  stage  in  the  successive 
scenes.  There  is  nothing  of  hesitation  about  the 
Bible's  treatment  of  the  spiritual  world.  There  is 
no  reserve,  no  vagueness  which  would  leave  a  chance 
for  the  whole  system  to  be  explained  away  into 
dreams  and  metaphors.  The  spiritual  world,  with 
all  its  multitudinous  existence,  is  just  as  real  as  the 
crowded  cities,  and  the  fragrant  fields,  and  the  loud 
battlegrounds  of  the  visible  and  palpable  Judea  in 
which  the  writers  of  the  sacred  books  were  living. 
You  take  away  the  unseen  world,  with  all  its  un 
seen  actors,  from  the  story,  and  you  have  not 


A  SURVEY  OF  SCRIPTURE  REFERENCES    39 

merely  made  the  Bible  like  other  books,  you  have 
set  it  below  other  books,  for  you  have  taken  the 
colour  out  of  all  its  life,  the  motive  out  of  all  its 
action. 

But  then  the  Bible  goes  farther.  It  not  merely 
believes  in  and  everywhere  assumes  the  existence  of 
spiritual  beings  ;  it  believes  that  to  certain  condi 
tions  even  of  our  fleshly  humanity  these  beings 
become  visible.  There  is  an  opening  of  the  eyes 
that  lets  us  see  what  is  going  on  in  this  finer,  purer 
region  round  about  us  all  the  time.  Is  not  this 
the  idea  of  life  that  the  Bible  gives  us,  as  if  we  were 
blind  men  walking  in  the  midst  of  a  great  city, 
hearing  its  noise,  feeling  its  jostling,  and  now  and 
then  in  some  peculiar  moments  of  our  life  opening 
our  eyes,  catching  one  sudden  flash  of  the  move 
ment  that  is  going  on  around  us,  then  shutting 
them  again  and  taking  the  moment's  sight  back 
with  us  into  the  darkness,  to  ponder  over,  and  too 
often,  by  and  by,  to  come  to  doubt  about  whether 
we  really  saw  ?  So  here  and  there  an  eye  is  opened. 
A  man  or  a  woman  in  the  Bible  is  found  in  fit  con 
dition,  and  to  that  deeper  sense  it  is  recorded  that 
spiritual  beings  made  themselves  visible,  as  if  it 
were  no  stranger  thing  than  for  the  opened  eye  of 
the  flesh  to  see  the  sparkling  splendour  of  the 
Temple  and  the  Mount  of  Olives,  and  the  high 
priest  walking  down  the  street,  and  all  the  familiar 
scenery  of  Jerusalem.  The  Hebrew  maiden  is  about 
her  pure  and  simple  life  in  Nazareth,  and  she  opens 
her  eyes  and  sees  the  messenger,  who  hails  her  as 
the  highly  favoured  of  her  Lord  ;  the  shepherds  are 


40  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

watching  in  the  fields,  and  suddenly  they  see  the 
angels  as  truly  and  as  clearly  as  they  see  the  stars. 
The  women  go  to  the  Sepulchre,  and  there  sit  the 
ministers  beside  the  place  where  Jesus  lay.  Paul 
rides  towards  Damascus,  and  lo !  he  has  fallen 
from  his  horse,  and  hears  a  voice  which  is  intelligible 
to  him  alone.  What  shall  we  say  ?  There  is  no 
doubt  of  what  the  Bible  teaches,  and  it  is  what  the 
human  heart,  taught  by  God  through  its  own 
deepest  instincts,  has  always  guessed  at  and  be 
lieved;  that  this  world  of  fleshly  life  is  not  all, 
that  everywhere  there  is  a  realm  of  spiritual  life 
close  to  us,  and  that  there  is  an  inner  sense  to 
which,  when  it  is  wakened,  these  spiritual  beings 
have  often  been  actually  visible,  and  given  words  of 
cheer,  and  guidance,  and  encouragement  to  toiling 
and  discouraged  men. 

Can  we  believe  anything  like  that  ?  I  am  sure 
as  we  portray  its  possibility,  we  have  some  sense  of 
more  enlargement  and  richness  in  the  universe,  at 
least  in  our  universe,  in  what  concerns  our  life. 
The  narrow  walls  of  the  moral  life  are  rolled  back, 
and  there  is  more  room  to  act,  more  space  to 
breathe.  The  world  of  the  Bible  opens  with  its 
vast  waves  of  motive  coming  in  like  the  breath  of 
the  morning  out  of  the  regions  of  the  unseen.  The 
difference  between  the  Bible,  with  its  tides  of 
spiritual  life,  and  the  modern  novel,  with  its  narrow 
studies  of  human  character  and  action,  as  if  they 
were  the  highest  things  in  the  universe ;  this  differ 
ence  describes  the  dignity  of  a  belief  in  living 
spiritual  influences,  as  contrasted  with  the  low  and 


A  SURVEY  OF  SCRIPTURE  REFERENCES    41 

unenterprising  Sadduceeism  to  which  our  souls 
incline.  .  .  . 

A  true  acceptance  of  the  whole  Bible  idea  of 
ever-present  spiritual  life  would  not  set  us  to 
watching  for  the  apparitions  of  the  dead  or  for  the 
sight  of  angels,  but  it  would  give  us  the  strength 
which  comes  to  every  work  and  suffering  from  the 
knowledge  that  this  universe  is  larger  than  it  seems, 
and  that  it  is  all  peopled  with  spiritual  existences 
who  are  God's  ministers  to  enlighten  and  to  feed 
our  life.  The  consciousness  of  many  spiritual 
helpers  must  come,  although  they  are  not  shown  to 
us  in  any  vision.  Enough  that  men  have  looked 
and  seen  through  some  break  in  the  cloud  the 
comforting,  defending  spirits  who  are  doing  the  Will 
of  God  in  man's  behalf.  The  brave  man  need  not 
see  any  celestial  form  with  spear  and  helmet  by  his 
side,  yet  he  may  know  as  he  goes  out  to  the  battle 
that  the  spirits  of  justice  everywhere  are  sympathis 
ing  with  him  and  helping  him  in  unknown  ways. 
The  mother  may  not  discern  an  angel  bending  over 
the  bed  on  which  her  child  is  laid,  but  still  she  may 
know  there  are  other  watchers  by  its  bed  beside 
herself,  spirits  whom  God  has  sent  to  see  that  none 
of  His  little  ones  take  any  harm. 

.  .  .  We  are  not  asking  God  to  make  a  spiritual 
world  for  us,  only  to  let  us  see  it  as  it  is.  We  do 
not  pray  God  to  love  us,  but  we  do  pray  that  we 
may  so  see  His  love  that  we  shall  love  Him  back 
again,  and  be  saved  by  loving.  Let  your  highest 
needs  plead  with  God  to  enlighten  your  lower 
nature,  as  Elisha  pleaded  for  his  servant.  Pray 


42  A  BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

for  yourself,  '  Lord,  that  I  might  receive  my 
sight !  '  1 

For  there  are  better  things  to  see  if  you  can  only 
see  them.  And  the  reason  that  you  do  not  see 
them  now  is  not  that  God  hides  them,  but  that  our 
eyes  are  blind.  Let  us  cry  after  Christ  the  Re- 
vealer,  as  Bartimeus  cried  after  Him  at  Jericho, 
and  He  will  stop  and  speak  to  us,  no  matter  who 
remonstrates.  '  Receive  thy  sight,  Thy  faith  hath 
saved  thee,'  He  will  say  ;  and  we  shall  begin  to  see 
the  higher  and  the  deeper  things,  and  to  take 
courage  and  be  strong.  We  shall  enter  on  that 
path  of  the  just  which  is  as  a  shining  light  that 
shineth  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day. 

Bishop  Phillips  Brooks  (1835-1893). 

LET  us  see  in  this  history  [of  the  young  man  in 
Dothan]  a  remedy  against  despondency,  such  as 
good  Christians  often  feel  in  contemplating  the 
state  of  the  world  at  particular  periods.  All  seems 
to  be  going  against  the  cause  of  right,  of  truth,  of 
God.  '  The  enemy  crieth  so,  and  the  ungodly 
cometh  on  so  fast,  for  they  are  minded  to  do  me 
some  mischief,  so  maliciously  are  they  set  against 
me.' 2  The  psalmist's  cry  is  echoed  by  the  Church, 
kneeling  at  the  foot  of  the  Throne  of  Christ,  through 
out  the  centuries  :  intellectual  assailants,  political 
adversaries,  all  the  passions,  all  the  prejudices,  all 
the  misapprehensions  of  unregenerate  humanity, 
come  down  and  besiege  the  prophet  in  Dothan. 
All  might  seem  lost  again  and  again,  if  the  eyes  of 

1  St.  Luke  xviii.  41   2.  2  Ps.  iv.  3. 


A  SURVEY  OF  SCRIPTURE  REFERENCES    43 

the  spirit  could  not  be  opened  to  perceive  that  they 
which  are  with  us  are  more  than  they  which  are  with 
them.  Courage  !  The  unseen  is  greater  than  the 
seen  :  the  eternal  will  outlive  the  things  of  time. 
An  act  of  faith  may  cross  the  threshold,  and  may 
at  once  correct  the  apparent  preponderance  of  evil 
by  a  vision  of  the  Throne  and  of  the  resources  of 
the  All-Good.  .  .  . 

There  is  an  inspiration  which  comes  from  the 
sense  of  wide  and  noble  fellowship,  of  high  and  dis 
tinguished  associates  and  guardians,  which  is  denied 
to  those  who  have  it  not.  And  in  His  Kingdom 
God  has  provided  us  with  this.  All  the  races  of 
the  world  furnish  their  contributions  to  the  Universal 
Church :  but  the  frontier  of  sense  is  not  the 
frontier  of  the  Church  ;  it  embraces  both  worlds— 
the  unseen  as  well  as  the  visible.1  The  Church  is 
a  world-embracing  mixed  society,  consisting  here  of 
the  faithful,  there  of  the  blessed  angels  and  the 
spirits  of  the  blessed  dead  ;  united  in  the  bonds  of 
indissoluble  communion,  and  all  ranged  beneath 
the  Throne  of  Thrones— the  Throne  of  God,  of 
Jesus. 

Does  this  lofty  conviction  inspire  no  hatred  of 
sin,  no  longing  for  a  higher  life,  no  wish  to  live  as 
the  companion  of  beings  who  constitute  the  House 
hold  of  God,  and  are  our  predestined  fellow-citizens  ? 
The  Syrian  host  may  press  us  hard,— the  host  of 
temptations,  of  bad  thoughts,  of  bad  acquaintances, 
of  haunting  memories  :— but  when,  at  the  prayer  of 
the  Church,  or  our  own,  our  eyes  open  upon  the 

1  See  Heb.  xii.  24. 


44  A  BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

realities  around  and  above  us,  we  may  remember 
that  we  have  a  great  destiny  before  us,  and  means 
at  hand  to  prepare  for  it.  *  To  have  no  sense  of 
the  invisible,'  said  a  great  writer,  'is  the  ruin  of 
art.'  To  have  no  sense  of  the  invisible,  it  may  be 
most  certainly  added,  is  the  ruin  of  virtue. 

We  may  see  here  also  the  real  secret  of  effec 
tive  prayer  and  praise.  .  .  .  Prayer  is  so  cold  and 
heartless  a  form  because  men  have  no  true  sight  of 
God,  of  Jesus,  of  His  Majesty,  His  Beauty,  His 
Glory,  such  as  is  possible  to  our  finite  and  purblind 
gaze  ; — of  the  everlasting  worship  which  surrounds 
Him,  of  the  courtiers  around  His  Throne,  those 
ministers  of  His  that  do  His  pleasure.  .  .  . 

There  are  few  better  prayers  on  entering  a 
church  than  Elisha's,  *  Lord,  open  mine  eyes  that  I 
may  see.'  I  do  not  wish  to  mock  Thee  by  lip-ser 
vice  ;  I  do  not  wish  to  pile  my  ordinary  business 
thoughts,  or  thoughts  of  pleasure,  on  the  very  steps 
of  Thy  Throne.  Open  mine  eyes  that  I  may  see 
Thee  in  Thy  Beauty,  and  in  Thy  glorious  Presence 
may  lose  my  relish  for  all  that  only  belongs  to  time. 
It  is  when  the  soul  struggles  thus  with  God  in 
spiritual  agony,  that  it  is  emancipated  from  the 
tyranny  of  sense,  and,  like  the  dying  Stephen,  really 
sees  the  heavens  opened,  and  Jesus  standing  at 
the  right  hand  of  God.1 

H.  P.  Liddon  (1829-1890). 

1   i  Acts  vii.  55-6. 


CHAPTER   III 
1fool£  Hn^els  in  IRelatfon  to  Gob  an&  /iDan 

The  Eternal  Love 
In  His  Eternity  ere  time  began 
Beyond  all  comprehension  took  delight 
New  combinations  of  His  love  to  plan. 

DANTE. 


AN 


ANGEL    ADORING. 

(F 'Hippo  Lippi.) 


ZTbe  fbots  Ensels  fn  relation  to  <Bofc  anfc 


THERE  is  a  remarkable  likeness  between  the  work 
of   the   angels   and   the   Christian   ministry.      The 
familiar  words  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  '  Are 
they  not  all  ministering  spirits,  sent  forth  to  minister 
to  them  that  shall  be  heirs  of  salvation  ?  '  ]  contain 
a  wealth  of  suggestions  in  this  direction.     It  only 
requires    a    slightly    imaginative    development    to 
paraphrase  thus  :  '  Are  they  not  all  spirits  of  priestly 
work  sent  forth,  as  apostles  are  sent,  to  do  the  work 
which  begins  with  the  office  of  deacon  ?  '     In  the 
work  of  the  ministering  priest,  the  deacon,  and  the 
apostolic  pastor,  all  Christians  share,  and  thus  the 
whole  of  our  service  has  that  of  the  angels  for  its 
pattern.     Dwelling  on  this  thought  we  find  that 
this  service  of  angels  and  men  is  threefold  —  first, 
in  relation  to  God  ;  secondly,  in  relation  to  man  ; 
thirdly,  in  relation  to  the  God-Man.     The  creation 
of  the  '  bodiless  ones,'  as  the  Eastern  Church  loves 
to  call  them,  is  too  often  forgotten.     If  it  were 
better  remembered,  the  presence  of  death  and  decay 
in  the  pre-  Adamite  universe  would  seem  less  strange. 

1  Heb.  i.  14. 


48  A  BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

For  those,  indeed,  to  whom  the  unseen  is  always  the 
unreal,  the  existence  of  angels  only  seems  possible 
in  imaginative  literature.  But  for  Christians,  to 
whom  our  incarnate  Lord  has  opened  the  way  into 
the  unseen  world,  the  personal  existence  of  unf alien 
as  well  as  fallen  spirits  must  be  certain  ;  and  if  God 
alone  is  uncreated,  the  spirits,  no  less  than  men, 
must  be  among  His  creatures  :  and  if  God  is  good 
it  must  have  been  by  a  fall,  the  result  of  a  refusal  to 
love,  and  not  by  an  original  act  of  the  divine  Creator, 
that  any  spirits  have  lost  holiness.  Hence  Faber's 
beautiful  words  1  do  not  overpass  the  just  limits  of 
devout  imagination. 

'  In  pulses  deep  of  threefold  Love, 
Self-hushed  and  self-possessed, 
The  mighty,  unbeginning  God 
Had  lived  in  silent  rest. 


He  stirred — and  yet  we  know  not  how, 
Nor  wherefore  He  should  move  ; 

In  our  poor  human  words,  it  was 
An  overflow  of  love. 

It  was  the  first  outspoken  word 
That  broke  that  peace  sublime, 

An  outflow  of  eternal  love 
Into  the  lap  of  time. 

1  Hymns,  ed.  1861,  p.  189. 


THEIR   RELATION  TO   GOD   AND   MAN      49 

He  stirred  ;  and  beauty  all  at  once 

Forth  from  His  Being  broke  ; 
Spirit  and  strength,  and  living  life, 

Created  things,  awoke. 

Order  and  multitude  and  light 

In  beauteous  showers  outstreamed  ; 

And  realms  of  newly  fashioned  space 
With  radiant  angels  beamed. 

How  wonderful  is  life  in  Heaven 

Amid  the  angelic  choirs, 
Where  uncreated  Love  has  crowned 

His  first  created  fires  ! ' 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  before  they  were  angels, 
that  is  messengers,  they  were  sons  of  God.  It 
would  appear  that  at  their  first  creation  there  were 
no  other  creatures  to  whom  they  could  be  messengers. 
The  creation  of  their  finite  intelligences  places 
before  our  minds  the  first  thought  of  the  succession 
of  time,  for  there  is  no  time  with  the  infinite  God. 
They  are  the  '  sons  of  God  '  who,  when  He  laid  the 
foundations  of  the  earth,  '  shouted  for  joy  '  ;  perhaps 
indeed  they  are  also  the  morning-stars  which  sang 
together.1  We  think  of  them  then  in  the  first 
moments  of  their  being  as  pure  spirits,  the  only 
created  beings  alone  with  God.  Their  employment 
and,  as  it  seems,  their  probation,  was  the  energy 
of  filial  love.  But  since  the  Eternal  Son  is  the 

1  Job  xxxviii.  7. 


5o  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

first-born  of  every  creature,  that  is,  the  uncreated 
pattern  of  all  the  children  of  God,  we  may  go  further, 
and  say  that  their  filial  energy  was  founded  on  the 
imitation  of  His  eternal  return  into  the  bosom  of 
the  Father.     We  therefore  conceive  them,  in  the 
first  moment  of  their  existence,  alone  with  God, 
offering  to  Him  that  praise  of  adoring  love  which 
is   due   from    all   creatures   to    the    Creator.     The 
sight  of  God  which  in  the  New  Testament  is  the 
reward  of  the  pure  in  heart  and  the  cause  of  perfec 
tion,  belonged  already  to  these  blessed  spirits  ;  but 
certain  indications  in  St.  Paul  and  St.  Peter  give 
us  the  right  to  assume — what  even  without  them 
we    might    have    conjectured— that    this    state    of 
blessedness  was  not  so  complete  as  to  leave  nothing 
to  be  sought  or  desired.     It  is  one  of  the  results  of 
6  the  mystery  of  godliness,' l  that  the  Eternal  Son 
was  seen  of  angels.     The  principalities  and  powers 
receive  their  knowledge  of  the  manifold  wisdom 
of  God  through  the  Church.2     The  angels  desire  to 
look   into   the   mysteries   of   the   gospel   which   is 
preached    to    Christians.3     The    relation  of    finite 
creatures  to  the  infinite  must  always  be  incomplete, 
and  capable  of  increase,  and  this  increase  appears  to 
have  been  the   only  conceivable  addition   to   the 
blessedness  of  the  angels  at  the  beginning  of  their 
existence.     If  we  return  to  the  thought,  that  their 
life  is  the  pattern  of  earthly  ministries,  we  are  in 

>  t  Tim.  iii.  16,  2  Eph.  iii.  10.  »  I  Pet.  i.  12. 


THEIR   RELATION  TO   GOD   AND   MAN     51 

a  position  to  see  that  the  human  ministers  of  God 
must  be  His  sons  before  they  can  be  His  messengers, 
and  that  all  ministerial  activity  must  be  based 
upon  previous  sonship  and  upon  the  privilege  of 
being  alone  with  God.  This  lesson  is  supported 
by  St.  Paul's  three  years  in  Arabia  after  his  conver 
sion,  by  the  sojourn  of  the  youthful  John  in  the 
wilderness  of  Judea,  and  above  all  by  the  thirty 
years  of  retirement  which  preceded  the  three  years 
of  our  Lord's  own  ministry.  Those  who  desire  to 
work  for  God  must  first  know  Him.  '  Who  art 
thou,  Lord  ?  '  comes  first,  and  then  '  Lord,  what 
wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ?  ' l  We  may  note  further 
that  it  is  the  spirit  of  man,  that  is,  his  will  and 
affections,  which  is  chiefly  concerned  with  this 
primary  relation  to  God.  Prayer,  meditation, 
adoration,  sacrifice,  communion — these  are  the  acts 
which,  for  the  true  Christian,  and  still  more  for  the 
faithful  priest,  lie  at  the  root  of  a  life  of  service. 

The  second  sphere  in  which  we  can  see  the 
spiritual  hosts  of  God  begins  with  the  creation  of 
man.  Like  the  heavenly  intelligences,  and  unlike 
the  material  universe,  man  is  created  to  serve  God, 
not  under  the  law  of  force,  but  under  the  law  of 
love.  He  is  seen  by  them  entering  a  world  which 
has  been  under  their  care,  and  which  bears  the  marks 
not  only  of  their  faithfulness,  but  also  of  the  sin 
which  has  made  empty  some  of  their  thrones. 
1  Acts  ix.  5  ;  xxii.  10. 

E  2 


52  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

There  seems  reason  to  place  the  fall  of  the  rebel 
angels  after  the  creation  of  the  Universe,  and 
certainly  before  the  creation  of  man.  What  we 
know  of  the  nature  of  their  sin  comes,  almost 
entirely,  from  what  we  are  able  to  say  about  the 
necessary  relation  of  creatures  to  the  Creator.  All 
creatures  are  made  to  serve  God,  and  all  rational 
creatures  to  serve  Him  out  of  love.  We  can  con 
ceive  nothing  but  refusal  of  love  which  could  be 
the  cause  of  the  fall  of  the  Angels,  and  that  refusal 
is  a  cause  sufficient.  It  is  indeed  impossible  not 
to  recognise  in  the  record  of  the  sin  of  the  King 
of  Babylon,1  and  that  of  the  King  of  Tyre,2  imagery 
which  seems  to  adapt  itself  to  the  fall  of  the  Angels. 
'  How  art  thou  fallen  from  heaven,  O  day-star, 
son  of  the  morning  .  .  .  thou  saidst  in  thine  heart, 
I  will  ascend  into  heaven,  I  will  exalt  my  throne 
above  the  stars  of  God  ;  .  .  .  I  will  ascend  above  the 
heights  of  the  clouds,  I  will  be  like  the  Most  High. 
Yet  thou  shalt  be  brought  down  to  hell,  to  the 
uttermost  parts  of  the  pit.'  Thus  of  the  King  of 
Babylon.  And  in  the  same  way  Ezekiel  speaks  of 
the  King  of  Tyre.  '  Thou  sealest  up  the  sum,  full 
of  wisdom,  and  perfect  in  beauty.  Thou  wast  in 
Eden,  the  garden  of  God  :  every  precious  stone 
was  thy  covering  .  .  .  the  workmanship  of  thy 
tabrets  and  thy  pipes  was  in  thee  ;  in  the  day  when 

1  Isaiah  xiv.  2  Ezek.  xxviii,  12. 


THEIR   RELATION   TO   GOD    AND   MAN     53 

thou  wast  created  they  were  prepared.  Thou 
wast  the  anointed  cherub  that  covereth  :  and  I  see 
thee  so  that  thou  wast  upon  the  holy  mountain 
of  God  :  thou  hast  walked  up  and  down  in  the 
midst  of  the  stones  of  fire.  Thou  wast  perfect  in 
thy  ways  from  the  day  thou  wast  created  until 
unrighteousness  was  found  in  thee.  By  the  multi 
tude  of  thy  traffic  they  filled  the  midst  of  thee  with 
violence,  and  thou  hast  sinned  :  therefore  have  I 
cast  thee  as  profane  out  of  the  mountain  of  God, 
and  I  have  destroyed  thee,  O  covering  cherub, 
from  the  midst  of  the  stones  of  fire.  Thine  heart 
was  lifted  up  because  of  thy  beauty  :  thou  hast 
corrupted  thy  wisdom  by  reason  of  thy  brightness  : 
I  have  cast  thee  to  the  ground,  I  have  laid  thee 
before  kings,  that  they  may  behold  thee.' 

Cardinal  Newman  l  has  made  the  angels  them 
selves  describe  their  probation  : 

'  The  Angels,  as  beseemingly 
To  spirit-kind  was  given, 
At  once  were  tried  and  perfected, 
And  took  their  seats  in  heaven. 

For  them  no  twilight  or  eclipse  ; 

No  growth  and  no  decay  : 
'Twas  hopeless,  all-ingulfing  night, 

Or  beatific  day. 

1  Dream  of  Gerontius. 


54  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

But  to  the  younger  race  there  rose 

A  hope  upon  its  fall ; 
And  slowly,  surely,  gracefully, 

The  morning  dawned  on  all.' 

Thus  the  relation  of  the  Angels  to  God  is  found, 
after  their  probation,  to  consist  of  secure  adherence 
or  irrevocable  separation. 

The  second  stage  of  their  history  begins  with 
the  creation  of  man.  For  him,  also,  there  was  a 
probation,  and  we  can  imagine  that  the  fall  of  our 
first  parents  must  have  been  expected  by  the  angels 
to  involve  the  same  final  ruin  as  that  of  their  own 
companions.  It  is  hardly  possible  to  doubt  that 
but  for  the  boundless  charity  with  which  they 
were  endowed,  they  must  have  felt  something  like 
jealousy  at  the  hope  permitted  to  the  younger  race. 
Certainly  there  was  no  jealousy  in  their  conduct. 
Faithful  to  the  purpose  of  God,  the  unf alien  angels 
took  at  once  under  their  protection  fallen  man. 
Through  the  Old  Testament  we  can  trace  the  times 
on  which  this  ministry  was  developed.  It  was 
especially  a  ministry  to  individuals — Abraham, 
Jacob,  Moses,  Joshua,  the  parents  of  Samson, 
David,  Daniel — to  all  these  the  Lord  Jehovah  was 
revealed  by  the  acts  and  words  of  the  Angel  who  so 
closely  represented  Him  as  to  be  thought  of  by  some 
Christian  Fathers  as  if  he  were  himself  the  Person 
of  the  Eternal  Son.  This  opinion  must  not,  indeed, 
be  condemned  as  certainly  false,  though  we  may 


THEIR   RELATION   TO   GOD   AND   MAN     55 

prefer  to  follow  Dr.  Pusey's  thought,  who  says  l  : 
'  It  seems  to  me  most  probable  that  he  was  a  created 
Angel  ...  of  this  Angel  God  says  "  My  name  is 
in  him." 2  In  him  were  manifested  the  Divine 
Attributes  :  he  was  the  minister  of  God's  justice, 
who  would  not  pardon  their  transgressions ;  to  him 
God  required  obedience  to  be  paid.  His  speaking 
was  God  speaking  in  him  ;  for  God  says,  "  If  thou 
shalt  indeed  obey  his  voice  and  do  all  that  I  com 
mand  you  !  "  Since  God  was  present  in  him,  God 
uses  as  equivalent  terms  the  words  "  the  angel  of  his 
presence  " 3  or  "  My  presence,"  4  the  same  angel,  I 
think,  was  meant  by  Elihu,  the  "angel interpreter." ' 5 
It  is  most  probable  that  Michael  is  no  other  than 
that  Angel  of  the  Lord  by  whom  God  manifested 
Himself  of  old,  for  the  Angel  of  the  Lord  seems 
to  be  the  same  who  declared  himself  to  be  the  prince 
of  the  host  of  the  Lord6 — a  title  given  in  Daniel 
to  '  Michael,  your  prince ' ;  '  one  of  the  great  princes ' ; 
'  the  great  prince  which  standeth  up  for  the  children 
of  thy  people.' 7  The  great  work  of  the  angels  and 
especially  of  their  great  leader,  was  to  prepare  the 
way  for  the  coming  of  our  Lord.  Like  St.  John 
the  Baptist,  they  made  men  feel  the  need  of  One 
whom  as  yet  they  knew  not.  A  perfect  picture  of 
this  side  of  their  work  is  found  in  the  vision  of  Jacob, 

1  Daniel  the  Prophet,^.  516.     -  Ex.  xxiii.  21.        ''  Is.  Ixiii.  9. 
4  Ex.  xxxiii.  14.  5  Job  xxxiii.  23.     (i  Josh.  v.  14. 

7  Dan.  x.  13-21  ;  xii.  i. 


56  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

where  the  angels  who  in  other  ministrations  enjoy 
the  freedom  of  flight,  stand  in  need  of  mysterious 
assistance  when  their  work  is  to  connect  the  penitent 
patriarch  with  the  Lord  Himself.  The  words  of 
our  Lord  at  the  calling  of  Nathanael l  imply  that 
the  ladder  of  Jacob  was  a  symbol  of  Himself.  The 
ministration  of  the  angels  to  the  chosen  people 
comes  to  its  highest  point  when  St.  Gabriel,  after 
predicting  the  birth  of  the  Baptist,  is  charged  with 
the  great  announcement  to  the  chosen  mother  of  God. 
A  beautiful  hallowing  of  the  Christian  teacher's 
office  is  to  be  found  in  the  archangel's  words  to 
Mary.  They  exactly  express  the  message  of  the 
Church  to  the  baptized  child,  '  Hail,  thou  that  art 
highly  favoured,  the  Lord  is  with  thee,'  and  to  the 
same  child  as  a  candidate  for  confirmation,  '  The 
Holy  Ghost  shall  come  upon  thee.' 

Our  third  stage  in  contemplation  of  the  Holy 
angels  finds  them  receiving  the  blessing  for  which 
they  have  always  longed  in  heaven  through  per 
severance  in  their  earthly  ministry.  We  have 
already  assured  ourselves  that  in  the  presence  of 
God  they  longed  for  a  fuller  knowledge  of  Him. 
The  finite  capacities  of  the  angels,  however  much 
greater  they  may  be  than  our  own,  do  not  exempt 
them  from  the  limitation  of  which  we  are  so  deeply 
conscious.  They,  like  us,  are  unable  with  finite 
capacities  to  comprehend  the  infinite  being  of  God, 
1  St.  John  i.  51. 


THEIR  RELATION   TO    GOD   AND   MAN     57 

and  thus  in  one  of  its  great  aspects  the  Incarnation 
of  the  Word  conferred  upon  the  angels  the  same 
benefit  as  upon  man.  In  Mary's  divine  Child  they 
were  able  to  learn  more  than  they  had  ever  known 
of  the  nature  of  God.  We  have  learnt  from  SS. 
Peter  and  Paul  that  the  angels  are  still  learning  from 
the  Gospel  and  the  Church.  This  is  a  continuation 
of  what  must  have  begun  when  they  saw  the  features, 
heard  the  words,  and  adored  the  wisdom  of  the 
acts  of  Jesus.  Although  He  increased  in  wisdom 
as  well  as  in  stature,  His  actions  from  the  first 
possessed  each  in  its  place  and  kind  the  fulness  of 
divine  perfection.  Along  with  this  high  privilege 
came  the  demand  for  a  second  manifestation  of 
self -surrender  ing  love  on  the  part  of  the  Holy  Angels. 
As  they  had  triumphed  over  jealousy  when  they 
accepted  the  care  of  fallen  man,  so  they  set  us  an 
example  of  detachment  when  they  resign  the  place 
which  had  become  habitual  to  them  as  the  repre 
sentatives  of  God  to  His  elect.  It  is  true  that  they 
still  minister.  Indeed,  their  ministry  comes  to  a 
fulness  in  the  Christian  dispensation  which  it  never 
had  before,  but  it  is  discharged  by  them  as  the 
attendants  and  servants  of  the  Incarnate  Son. 
As  the  viceroy  falls  into  a  subordinate  place  on 
the  arrival  of  the  Emperor,  so  the  angels,  with 
St.  John  the  forerunner,  yield  with  joy  their  repre 
sentative  functions  when  the  Father  brings  into 
the  world  the  First-begotten.  If  we  would  under- 


58  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

stand  rightly  the  opening  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews,  we  must  remember  that  the  patronage 
of  the  angels  had  come  to  be  specially  valued  by 
the  Alexandrian  Jews,  and  the  first  object  of  the 
inspired  writer  is  to  lift  the  devotion  of  the  Jewish 
Christians  from  the  angels  to  their  Lord. 

As  they  have  set  us  the  example  of  beginning 
with  God,  so  we  learn  from  them  to  end  in  Him. 
Our  faith  and  our  meditations  are  the  preparation 
for  our  work  for  our  fellow  creatures  :  it  is  in  that 
work  that  we  come  to  know  God  more  fully  in 
Jesus  Christ,  and  this  increase  of  knowledge  leads 
to  a  fulness  of  self-surrender  in  which  even  the 
joys  of  work  for  others  are  swallowed  up  in  the 
unspeakable  possession  of  the  Incarnate  Son. 

v.s.s.c. 


GOD  is  at  the  head  of  the  immense  hierarchy  of 
all  beings  in  the  creation,  and  they  all,  whether 
material  or  spiritual,  originate  in  Him,  like  an 
abundant  source  which  flows  from  the  summit  of 
a  mountain,  and  is  divided  into  streams.  The 
nearest  to  Him  are  the  angels,  and  therefore  par 
ticipate  more  than  all  other  creatures  of  His  perfec 
tion,  and  resemble  Him  the  most. 

St.  Thomas  Aquinas  (1226-1274). 


THEIR   RELATION   TO   GOD   AND   MAN     59 

WE  are  content  to  say  with  St.  Augustine,  Esse 
firmissime  credo,  quaenam  sint  nescio  :  That  there  are 
distinct  orders  of  angels,  assuredly  I  believe ;  but 
what  they  are,  I  cannot  tell ;  Dicant  qui  possunt ;  si 
tamen  probare  possunt  quod  dicunt,  says  that  Father  : 
Let  them  tell  you  that  can,  so  that  they  be  able  to 
prove  that  they  tell  you  true. 

They  are  creatures,  that  have  not  so  much  of  a 
body  as  flesh  is,  as  froth  is,  as  a  vapour  is,  as  a  sigh 
is,  yet  with  a  touch  they  shall  moulder  a  rock 
into  less  atoms,  than  the  sand  that  it  stands  upon  ; 
and  a  millstone  into  smaller  flour,  than  it  grinds. 
They  are  creatures  made,  and  yet  not  a  minute 
elder  now  than  when  they  were  first  made,  if  they 
were  made  before  all  measure  of  time  began  ;  nor 
if  they  were  made  in  the  beginning  of  time,  have 
they  one  wrinkle  of  age  in  their  face,  or  one  sob  of 
weariness  in  their  lungs.  They  are  primogeniti 
Dei,  God's  eldest  sons  ;  they  are  super-elementary 
meteors,  they  hang  between  the  nature  of  God,  and 
the  nature  of  man,  and  are  of  middle  condition  ; 
and  (if  we  may  offencelessly  express  it  so)  they  are 
aenigmata  Divina,  the  riddles  of  Heaven,  and  the 
perplexities  of  speculation.  But  this  is  but  till 
the  resurrection  ;  then  we  shall  be  like  them,  and 
know  them  by  that  assimilation. 

John  Donne  (1573-1631). 

THE  exact  nature  and  being  of  the  Holy  Angels 
we  do  not  learn  ;  but  it  is  apparent  from  Scripture 
that  they  hold,  in  analogy  with  their  office,  a  nature 
midway  between  man  and  God.  They  were  created 


60  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

beings  like  man  ;  for  we  read  in  the  second  chapter 
of  Genesis,  *  Thus  the  heavens  and  the  earth  were 
finished,  and  all  the  host  of  them.' 

They  were  created  with  spiritual  and  ethereal 
bodies ;  with  wisdom,  and  holiness,  and  purity,  and 
great  power,  and  swiftness  of  motion,  so  as  to  be 
like  God  ;  but  yet  capable  of  falling,  and  incurring 
God's  wrath  (as  some  did)  like  man. 

Their  knowledge,  too,  was  very  great,  but  yet 
it  was  definite  and  prescribed,  as  is  the  knowledge 
of  man. 

All  this  shows  the  peculiarity  of  their  nature, 
as  taking  a  place  in  God's  works  above  that  of  man  ; 
and  yet,  in  one  sense,  man  is  above  them,  for  the 
Son  of  Man,  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  as  Man,  sits 
at  the  Right  Hand  of  the  Majesty  on  High;  'He 
was  made  better  than  the  angels,  as  He  hath  by 
inheritance  obtained  a  more  excellent  name  than 
they.' l  .  .  . 

What  a  multitude  of  thoughts  this  faith  raises 
up  in  our  minds  !  The  unseen  world  !  The  world 
of  spirits  !  That  the  air  about  us,  the  fields,  the 
streets,  our  rooms,  are  peopled  with  a  heavenly 
host,  which  we  can  neither  touch  nor  see  !  And 
yet  it  is  only  in  accordance  with  the  analogy  of 
nature  ;  for  nature  begins  her  work  of  God  from 
the  lowest,  ascending  in  scales  and  degrees  to  the 
highest :  from  stones  and  minerals,  mere  matter 
which  has  no  life,  to  vegetables  which  have  an 
organic  life — from  vegetables  to  the  half  organic, 
half  sentient  life  of  the  creatures  of  the  sea — from 

»  Heb.  i.  4. 


THEIR   RELATION   TO   GOD   AND   MAN     61 

that  lowest  kind  of  sentient  life  to  full  animal 
power — and  from  that,  again,  in  a  scale  working 
upward  to  life,  with  degrees  of  instinct  and  seem 
ing  rational  power,  until  we  come  to  the  life  of 
man.  But  having  come  so  far  as  man  from  the 
lowest,  it  seems  but  analogous  to  continue  to 
something  higher.  So  it  is  said  when  David  speaks 
of  man,  that  God  made  him  '  a  little  lower  than 
the  angels '  ;  whereas  St.  Paul  speaks  of  our  Lord 
4  being  made  so  much  better  than  the  angels ' ;  in 
which  we  see  the  scale  continued,  man  in  himself 
and  of  his  own  nature  in  the  scale  above  the  brute 
creation,  but  below  angels  ;  then  the  angels  next, 
but  angels  again  lower  in  the  scale  when  we  come 
to  Christ,  Who  joined  the  Divine  nature  to  the 
human,  and  so  brought  it  up  above  the  angels  in 
His  Own  Person.  The  angelic  host  stand,  then, 
in  their  rank  of  the  creation  according  to  analogy. 
Thus,  then,  it  is.  There  is  a  part  of  the  creation, 
and  that  by  far  the  most  wonderful  part,  the  most 
numerous  part,  the  most  beautiful  part,  as  yet 
utterly  unseen  by  us  ;  we  know  nothing  by  fact  of 
angelic  ministrations,  that  they  minister  for  us, 
or  succour  us,  or  defend  us — we  never  see  them — 
we  never  feel  that  they  do  so — we  are  never  sensible 
of  it  by  any  proof  of  things  done  in  consequence 
of  it,  and  yet  we  believe  it.  And  where  can  they 
be  ?  Impalpable,  invisible,  presenting  a  nature  to 
God  which  His  universal  Power  creates,  and  a 
nature  to  themselves  which  they  are  permitted 
of  God  to  recognise  in  each  other,  but  to  us  nothing 
— filling  up  one  more  great  order  of  this  universe, 


62  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

so  vast,  so  magnificent,  but  to  us  as  yet  unknown. 
What  an  inducement  this  is,  merely  this  single 
idea  of  our  being  in  an  ascending  scale  of  creation, 
as  yet  imperfect,  to  give  us  care  in  the  prospect  of 
the  future,  so  that  we  attain  that  which  is  perfect ; 
what  an  inducement  to  know  that  there  are  prin 
cipalities  and  powers,  and  dominions  of  heavenly 
beings,  whose  glory  we  have  not  the  least  notion 
of,  waiting  to  receive  us  in  the  many  mansions 
promised  by  Christ ;  and  thence  being  made  known 
to  us,  by  the  imparting  of  new  senses  to  our  present 
imperfect  natures,  to  carry  us  on  into  the  presence 
of  our  God.  .  .  . 

This  faith  in  the  Holy  Angels  is  an  argument 
for  great  reverence,  and  hearty  zeal  in  the  per 
formance  of  the  various  duties  of  Divine  worship. 
We  are  too  much  in  the  habit  of  estimating  the 
value  of  the  Divine  offices  of  the  Church  by  the 
number  of  a  congregation.  It  is  a  pleasing  sight 
to  behold,  in  the  Houses  of  our  God,  vast  multitudes 
gathered  together  for  His  praise ;  but  the  fact  of 
a  very  few  being  collected  together  ought  not  to 
damp  our  spirits,  or  cast  a  gloom  about  us,  still  less 
ought  it  to  be  made  a  criterion  of  the  value  of 
the  service  performed  to  God,  for  this  reason — 
first,  that  our  Lord  Himself  has  promised,  that 
where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  His 
Name,  there  is  He  in  the  midst  of  them  ;  and 
secondly,  because  we  are  assured  that  the  Holy 
Angels  are  always  present  to  thicken  the  numbers, 
and  fill  up  the  places  which  negligent  and  careless 
men  leave  vacant.  If  the  few  that  do  meet  are 


THEIR   RELATION  TO    GOD   AND   MAN     63 

but  holy  and  sincere,  those  few  are  made  countless 
multitudes  in  reality,  by  the  presence  of  *  God's 
Hosts.'  And  so  let  not  your  prayers  or  your 
praises  lose  their  energy  because  you  see  not  many 
with  you.  Remember  that  angels  are  adding  to 
your  worship,  that  angels  join  you  in  your  praise, 
and  that  angels  are  ever  ready  to  carry  both  your 
prayers  and  your  praises  as  tokens  of  your  faith 
before  the  Throne  of  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  His 
Son. 

W.  J.  E.  Bennett  (1804-1886). 


O  passing  Angel,  speed  me  with  a  song, 

A  melody  of  Heaven  to  reach  my  heart 
And  rouse  me  to  the  race  and  make  me  strong  ; 
Till  in  such  music  I  take  up  my  part, 

Swelling  those  Hallelujahs  full  of  rest, 
One  tenfold,  hundredfold,  with  heavenly  art, 

Fulfilling  north  and  south,  and  east  and  west, 
Thousand,  ten  thousand  fold,  innumerable, 

All  blent  in  one,  yet  each  one  manifest ; 
Each  one  distinguished  and  beloved  as  well 

As  if  no  second  voice  in  earth  or  heaven 
Were  lifted  up  the  Love  of  God  to  tell. 

Christina  Rossetti. 


CHAPTER  IV 

1fool£  Bnsels  tn  regarfc  to  tbeir  Corporate 
State  anb  Slffe 

These  various  ranks  all  fix  their  looks  above, 
And  shower  such  influence  down  below,  that  they 
All  draw  towards  God,  as  they  are  drawn  by  love. 

DANTE. 

The  Angelic  hosts,  the  archangelic  pomps, 
Thrones,  Dominations,  Princedoms,  rank  on  rank, 
Rising  sublimely  to  the  feet  of  God. 

E.  B.  BROWNING. 


AN  infinite  increase  of  Angels  bright, 

All  glistering  glorious  in  their  Maker's  light. 

To  them  the  heaven's  illimitable  height 

(Not  this  round  heaven,  which  we  from  hence  behold, 

Adorn'd  with  thousand  lamps  of  burning  light, 

And  with  ten  thousand  gems  of  shining  gold,) 

He  gave  as  their  inheritance  to  hold, 

That  they  might  serve  Him  in  eternal  bliss, 

And  be  partakers  of  those  joys  of  His. 

There  they  in  their  trinal  triplicities 
About  Him  wait,  and  on  His  will  depend, 
Either  with  nimble  wings  to  cut  the  skies, 
When  He  them  on  His  messages  doth  send, 
Or  on  His  own  dread  Presence  to  attend, 
Where  they  behold  the  glory  of  His  light, 
And  carol  hymns  of  love  both  day  and  night. 

Edmund  Spenser. 


F  2 


Ube  1fool£  Bn0el0  in  reaarfc  to  tbeit  Corporate 
State  anfc  Xtte 

To  pious  souls  there  are  few  studies  more  fascinating 
or  more  elevating  than  that  of  the  holy  angels. 
These  bright,  celestial  beings  appear  before  us 
mortals  (who  as  yet  are  perhaps  in  the  lowest  scale 
of  rational  creatures)  as  messengers  from  the  Most 
High,  to  whom  they  render  so  perfect  a  service 
that,  when  they  come  to  us,  they  rarely  utter  any 
thing  but  that  which  they  are  commanded  to 
declare  to  us.  It  would  seem  to  be  only  when  the 
occasion  makes  it  a  necessity  that  we  hear  them 
giving  expression  to  any  spontaneous  utterance  of 
their  own.  In  consequence  of  this,  their  per 
sonality  has  been  overshadowed  by  their  function 
and  ministry,  and  the  disposition  of  the  Church  of 
the  Old  Testament  has  been  rather  to  mark  what 
the  angel  does  than  what  the  angel  is.  Indeed,  the 
very  name  '  angel '  ('  messenger ')  speaks,  not  of 
himself,  but  of  his  office. 

But  though  they  come  to  us  in  so  exalted  a  way, 
and  thus  lay  upon  us  the  great  primary  duty  of 
receiving  in  humble  adoration,  not  themselves,  but 


THEIR   CORPORATE   LIFE  69 

that  which  they  come  to  bring,  still,  at  the  same 
time,  we  cannot  help  longing  to  know  something  of 
what  they  are,  their  own  being  and  life,  their 
relationship  to  God,  to  each  other,  and  to  mankind. 
Such  a  longing  is  simply  natural ;  and  we  know  that 
He  Who  is  the  Creator  of  whatever  desires  are 
'  simply  natural '  has  His  own  provision,  in  His  due 
and  perfect  order,  for  gratifying  them.  He  does 
so  in  this  case.  In  the  prayer  which  He  has  be 
queathed  to  His  Church,  He  teaches  us  to  offer  the 
distinct  petition  '  Thy  will  be  done,  as  in  heaven, 
so  on  earth.' l  '  As  in  heaven  '  ;  that  is  to  say,  the 
coelum  angelifemm  ;  there  where  the  holy  angels 
dwell,  and  live  their  life  and  do  their  work  in  God. 
We  are,  then,  nothing  less  than  divinely  com 
manded  to  satisfy  our  longings  to  know  about  these 
heavenly  beings,  and  we  are  commanded  to  do  so 
by  studying  the  way  in  which  they  fulfil  the  Creator's 
will,  and  by  learning  from  this  study  how  we  should 
fulfil  it  ourselves. 

It  is  in  obedience  to  this  command  we  proceed 
to  our  study  here  ;  and  may  He  Who  thus  gives 
both  the  command  and  the  object  for  our  obeying 
it,  grant  us  His  merciful  grace  and  guidance,  in  our 
thoughts  and  in  the  applications  we  should  make 
from  them. 

And  let  us  not  suppose  that  we  are  departing 
from  the  immediate  study  before  us,  that  of  the 
1  St.  Matt.  vi.  10,  R.V. 


70  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

holy  angels  themselves,  in  making  these  applica 
tions  to  current  circumstances  of  our  time  ;  for  no 
truth  can  be  really  known  until  we  have  closed  with 
it  in  our  actual  experiences.  The  very  contrast, 
too,  which  sometimes  glaringly  appears  by  the 
placing  side  by  side  of  things  as  they  ideally  are  with 
the  angels  in  heaven,  and  things  as  they  really  are 
with  us  on  earth,  is  perhaps  the  best  way  in  which 
we  can  learn,  not  only  what  is  our  own  state,  but — 
which  is  the  object  of  our  study — what  is  really 
theirs.  Moreover,  what  else  could  a  faithful  study 
of  things  above,  for  the  purpose  of  becoming  more 
like  them  here  below,  do  but  this — namely,  make 
us  feel  their  bearing  upon  what,  at  any  given  time, 
is  most  prominent  with  ourselves.  To  turn  aside 
and  to  avoid  such  a  bearing  would  be  to  make  our 
study  a  study  with  digressions.  And  if  this  contact 
should  sometimes  sting  us  with  the  truth  it  forces 
us  to  face,  let  us  not  hold  back.  Flashes  of  sun 
light  may  make  us  sometimes  wince  ;  but  without 
them  we  should  die.  And,  lastly,  let  us  remember 
that  it  is  only  for  such  a  purpose  as  this,  the  working 
it  out  into  the  things  of  this  life,  that  our  Blessed 
Lord  gives  us  the  command  for  making  our  study 
of  the  holy  angels  at  all. 

And  what,  then,  first  of  all,  does  our  Blessed 
Lord's  injunction  teach  us  ?  It  first  of  all  shows 
that  there  is  a  close  relationship  between  the  holy 
angels  and  ourselves.  Although  they  are  '  in 


THEIR   CORPORATE   LIFE  71 

heaven '  and  we  are  c  on  earth,'  yet  it  is  the  same 
'Will'  we  both  are  to  serve.     And  further,  this 
relationship  is  also  a  great  and  personal  fellowship. 
For  not  only  are  we  to  learn  of  the  Divine  Will 
from  them  ;  but  they  are  to  learn  of  it,  on  their 
part,  from  us.     '  To  the  intent  that  now  unto  the 
principalities    and    the    powers    in    the    heavenly 
places,'  exclaims  our  Lord's  Apostle,  '  might  be  made 
known  through  the  Church  the  manifold  wisdom 
of  God,  according  to  the  eternal  purpose  which  he 
purposed  in  Christ    Jesus    our    Lord.'  L     And  this 
fellowship  is  a  'corporate'  fellowship.     It  is,  we 
see,  the  Angelic  Society  which  is  to  learn  of  us,  just 
as  it  is  the  Christian  Society,  or  Church,  addressing 
her  prayer  to  God  as  '  Our  Father,'  which  is  to  learn 
of  them. 

Here,  perhaps,  it  is  not  out  of  place  to  remark, 
and  the  history  of  the  Church  has  not  made  it 
unnecessary,  that  there  is  no  idea  of  '  worship '  in 
this  corporate  fellowship.  If  there  was,  then, 
since  in  another  pregnant  passage  the  Apostle 
actually  tells  us  that  good  angels  themselves  are 
one  day  coming  within  the  judicial  activity  of 
glorified  believers,2  there  would  seem  to  be  less  error 
in  the  angels  worshipping  the  Church  than  in  the 
Church  worshipping  angels.  But  we  never  find 
them  doing  this.  On  the  contrary,  as  we  have 
pointed  out,  they  simply  appear  before  us  to  do 
1  Eph.  iii.  io,  ii,  R.V.  2  I  Cor.  vi.  305. 


72  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

God's    will    concerning    us    and    nothing    further. 
Nor  do  they  ever  for  a  moment  accept  from  us  any 
idea  of  our  worshipping  them.     The  holy  angel  who 
attended  upon  St.  John  in  the  courts  of  heaven 
instantaneously  checked  an  attempt  to  do  this  on 
the  part  of  the  Apostle,  reminding  him  that  their 
relationship    was   one  of    '  fellow-service.' 1    Theo- 
doret  and  St.  Augustine,  with  the  chiefest  of  the 
Fathers,  have  both  opposed  angel-worship  ;  while 
the  Council  of  Laodicea  forbad  Christians  to  leave 
their  Church  in  order  to  attend  private  meeting- 
places  in  which  angels  were  invoked,  and  anathe 
matises  those  who  are  guilty  of  this  idolatry  ;  thus 
re-echoing  the  prohibition  of  St.  Paul  in  his  Epistle 
to  the  Colossians.2     Corporate  fellowship,  not  wor 
ship,  is  the  bond  of  our  mutual  relationship. 

What  then  is  the  nature  of  the  angelic  corporate 
life  with  which  the  Church,  in  her  own  corporate 
life,  has  this  fellowship  ?  We  can  afford  to  miss 
out  no  point,  and  therefore  we  must  begin  by 
noting,  what  is  a  self-evident  truth— namely,  that 
it  is  spiritual  corporate  life,  inasmuch  as,  in  their 
very  essence  they  who  form  it  are  all  of  them  minis 
tering  '  spirits  '  in  the  holiest  meaning  of  the  word.3 
We  pause,  before  we  go  further,  to  apply  this 
fundamental  truth.  Yes  ;  and  when  shall  we,  in 
our  branch  (in  any  case)  of  the  Church,  have  truly 
learned  that  the  first  great  aim,  if  we  are  to  do 

1  Rev.  xix.  10 ;  xxii.  8,  9.  2  ii.  18.  3  Heb.  i.  14. 


THEIR   CORPORATE   LIFE 


73 


God's  will  on  earth  as  it  is  done  in  heaven,  must 
be  to  do  it  spiritually  ?  Do  we  not  still  need  more 
earnestness  in  making  this  absolutely  the  first 
requirement  for  admission  into  the  ministering 
orders  of  the  Church  ?  Is  not  much  of  the  success 
of  Nonconformity  in  its  own  sphere,  and  much  of 
its  aversion  towards  us  in  ours,  due  to  the  simple 
truth  that  many  Nonconformists  too  often  know 
from  spiritual  experiences  which  are  theirs,  the 
absence  of  the  same  in  us  ?  Do  not  the  dealings 
of  God  appear  to  show  that,  if  in  any  given  place 
it  is  to  be  a  question  of  spirituality  outside  the 
Church's  regime  or  of  the  Church's  regime  outside 
spirituality,  we  might  almost  say  of  the  flock  out 
side  the  fold  or  of  the  fold  outside  the  flock,  it  is 
with  the  former  that  God  sides  ?  Is  not  the 
existence  of  much  Nonconformity  due  to  our  non- 
recognition  of  '  spiritual  gifts,'  and  to  the  forgetting 
that  these  '  charismata '  are  granted  directly  and 
apart  from  the  '  diakoniai,'  or  *  ministries  '  ?  Does 
not  this  non-recognition  on  our  part  too  often 
almost  compel  the  exercising  of  the  '  gifts  '  to  be 
apart  from  union  with  the  '  ministries,'  and  so 
frustrate  God's  Will  being  done  in  the  way  in  which 
He  desires  it  to  be  done  ?  Are  not  appointments 
to  parochial  benefices,  to  the  over-charge  of  God's 
Church  which  is  called  into  existence  by  His  Holy 
Spirit  for  the  accomplishment  of  His  Divine  pur 
pose  in  the  world,  still  too  often  made  in  obvious 


74  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

regard  to  the  possession  by  the  one  appointed 
of  material  means  for  the  maintaining  a  certain 
standard  of  a  so-called  '  position '  (our  modern 
simony),  instead  of  in  regard,  first  and  foremost, 
to  his  spirituality  ?  Surely  if  we  had  more  faith  in 
spirituality  we  should  find  that  devotion  called 
forth  devotion,  and,  in  consequence,  that  requisite 
supplies  would  not  be  wanting.  Goethe  once  said, 
1  If  you  would  do  something,  you  must  first  of  all 
be  something.'  And  if  the  Church  on  earth,  as 
her  Lord  commands,  is  to  do  as  the  angels  do, 
she  must  start  with  being  what  the  angels  are — 
spiritual. 

The  next  self-evident  truth  in  regard  to  the 
angelic  corporate  life  is  that  it  is  social.  We  find 
this  all  through  Holy  Scripture.  At  their  first 
appearance  on  the  scene  of  the  newly  formed  world, 
and  again  at  the  new  era  at  the  birth  of  our  blessed 
Lord,  it  is  in  the  social  aspect  of  a  c  chorus '  that 
they  are  there  brought  to  view,  '  when  the  morning 
stars  sang  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted 
for  joy.'  The  title,  also,  which  is  here  given  them 
declares  the  same  truth  ;  for  if  God,  as  in  the 
Christian  faith  we  know,  is  a  God  Who  is  a  Divine 
society,  His  '  sons  '  must  be  the  same.  Over  two 
hundred  and  eighty  times  in  Holy  Scripture  is  God 
called  the  God,  or  Lord,  of  '  hosts.'  These  hosts  of 
angelic  beings  are  described  as  sabaoth,  marianaim, 
armies,  camps. 


THEIR  CORPORATE   LIFE  75 

'  They  for  us  fight,  they  watch  and  duly  ward 
And  their  bright  squadrons  round  about  us  plant.' 1 

But  '  hosts,'  '  armies,'  '  camps,'  '  squadrons,'  under 
the  control  of  one  Almighty  mind,  imply  a  life 
which  is  not  that  of  a  mob,  not  that  of  a  multitude 
of  isolated  individuals,  but  that  of  an  organised 
society.  The  Apostolic  description,  too,  which 
we  have  already  quoted,  of  their  being  all  of  them 
'  ministering '  ('  leitourgika,'  we  might  almost  say 
'  liturgical ')  '  spirits,'  2  seems  also  perhaps  to 
suggest  their  fellowship  in  the  combined  movement 
of  some  vast  and  ordered  act  of  temple- worship, 
which  is  social. 

'  lowly  reverent, 

Towards  either  throne  they  bow,  and  to  the  ground 
With  solemn  adoration  down  they  cast 
Their  crowns  inwove  with  amarant  and  gold.'  ' 

It  is  evident,  then,  that  if  we  are  to  serve  God 
on  earth  after  the  example  of  the  angels  in  heaven, 
it  is  as  an  organised  society  that  we  must  do  so. 
Heaven  knows  nothing  of  undenominationalism. 
Undenominationalism,  as  its  very  term  signifies,  is 
a  something  which  is  disconnected  from  fellowship 
with  any  society.  But  that  is  what  the  spiritual 
life  and  worship  of  the  angels  above  is  not,  and 
certainly  it  is  exactly  what  Christianity  is  not. 
As  we  look  into  the  mirror  of  Holy  Scripture  and 

1  Faery  Queene,  II.  viii.  2.  a  Heb.  i.  14. 


Milton,  Paradise  Lost,  iii.  349. 


76  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

see  there  these  sons  of  God,  these  choirs  ;  these 
hosts  and  armies  of  the  living  Lord  ;  these  attendants 
in  the  courts  of  heaven  upon  vast  acts  of  holiest 
worship  ;  mutiny  dignified  with  the  name  of  private 
enterprise,  or  separated  action  honoured  as  laudable 
zeal  is,  as  existing  there,  simply  unthinkable.  And 
is  not  this  a  vision  which  we  Christians,  in  our  still 
divided  state,  need  now  to  be  keeping  before  our  eyes  ? 
In  the  early  days  of  Christianity  we  were  nearer  to 
the  Holy  Angels,  than  we  are  now,  in  doing  nothing 
contrary  to  the  social  life  of  the  Church.  Then, 
none  ever  thought  of  any  other  way  of  entering  into 
the  Christian  life  at  all  except  as  by  being  '  added 
to  the  Church.'  l  Then,  those  who  were  so  added 
*  continued  steadfastly  in  the  Apostles'  teaching 
and  fellowship,  in  the  breaking  of  bread  and  the 
prayers.' 2  Then,  even  an  Apostle,  and  one  '  not 
a  whit  behind  the  very  chief est,' 3  would  submit 
his  preaching  to  the  society  of  the  Church  for  its 
endorsement,  that  it  might  then  have  due  accept 
ance  with  those  to  whom  it  had  been  addressed 4 ; 
while  that  same  Apostle,  in  writing  to  his  successor 
in  Crete  concerning  the  duties  of  his  calling,  de 
scribed  his  own  apostleship  as  being  *  according  to 
the  faith  of  God's  elect.' 5  We  need  to  recover  this 
likeness  to  the  holy  angels,  and  to  remind  ourselves 
of  the  very  title-page  of  our  Book  of  Common 

1  Acts  ii.  47.  2  Acts  ii.  42,  R.V.  3  2  Cor.  xi.  5. 

1  Gal.  ii.  2.  5  Titus  i.  i. 


THEIR   CORPORATE   LIFE 


77 


Prayer,  stating  that  it  contains  the  administration 
of  the  Sacraments  and  other  rites  and  ceremonies 
of  the  Church  (Catholic),  according  to  the  use  of 
the  Church  of  England,  and  so  serve  God  acceptably 
in  fellowship  with  that  branch  of  the  Church  which 
is  in  our  own  land,  as  that  branch  of  the  Church 
which  is  in  our  own  land  serves  God  acceptably  in 
fellowship  with  all  that  is  of  the  truth  in  the  Church 
which  is  everywhere.  Do  I  claim  that  I  have 
'  charismata,'  spiritual  '  gifts,'  and  with  the  simple 
fact  of  possessing  them  the  inherent  authority  for 
exercising  them  ?  Let  me  exercise  them  as  the 
holy  angels  ever  exercise  the  charismata  which  are 
theirs,  not  breaking  from  the  society  which  is  the 
divinely  appointed  sphere  for  their  development. 
Do  I  feel  in  the  particular  place  where  I  am  that 
the  officers  of  the  Church  commit  the  sin  of  not 
recognising,  perhaps  awfully  even  discouraging, 
these  *  gifts,'  and  so  God's  Will  for  their  exercise  ? 
Let  me,  then,  at  least  not  add  sin  to  sin  by  refusing, 
on  my  part,  to  recognise  the  Church's  possession  and 
exercising  of  *  ministries ' ;  nor,  because  I  shrink  from 
the  cross  of  the  lack  of  deserved  sympathy,  or  even 
the  cross  of  cold  discouragement,  make  the 
sacrilegious  endeavour  to  start  another  Church, 
which  is  no  Church,  with  other  ministries,  which 
are  no  ministries.  For  if  there  is  one  thing  certain 
it  is  this :  I  cannot  do  God's  Will  on  earth  as  it  is 


78  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

done  in  heaven,  if  I  am  attempting  to  do  so  in 
violation  of  social  order. 

But — and  this  becomes  our  next  point  of 
inquiry — what  are  the  component  parts  of  which 
the  Angelic  Society  is  made  up  ?  As  the  Church, 
with  that  spiritual  faculty  for  beholding  the  things 
of  heaven  with  which  she  is  divinely  endowed, 
has  fixed  her  gaze  on  the  life  and  doings  of  these 
choirs  and  hosts  above,  reflected  in  the  pages  of 
Holy  Scripture,  there  have  unfolded  before  her  eyes 
the  dividing  outlines  of  nine  orders,  each  order 
being  marked  out  by  some  special  ethical 
distinction,  bearing  some  grace,  or  function,  or 
character,  peculiar  to  itself,  by  which  it  glorifies 
some  special  attribute  of  the  Deity.  Gazing 
further,  these  manifold  orders  have  been  seen  by 
the  Church  to  group  themselves  into  three  triads 
of  choirs,  or  hierarchies,  each  of  these  again  dividing 
themselves  into  three  ranks  or  orders. 

.  .  .  *  Angels,  by  imperial  summons  called, 
Innumerable  before  th'  Almighty's  throne, 
Forthwith  from  all  the  ends  of  heaven  appear 'd 
Under  their  hierarchs  in  orders  bright.'  l 

The  first  and  highest  of  these  hierarchies,  or 
choirs,  is  composed  of  the  angels  of  the  Contem 
plative  orders,  the  Seraphim,  the  Cherubim,  and  the 
Thrones.  Next  to  these  comes  the  hierarchy,  or 

1  Milton,  Paradise  Lost,  v.  5.87. 


THEIR   CORPORATE   LIFE  79 

choir,  of  the  Regulative  orders,  the  Dominions  (or, 
Dominations),  the  Virtues,  and  the  Powers.  And 
then  follows  the  hierarchy  or  choir  of  the  Administra 
tive  orders,  the  Principalities  (or  Princedoms),  the 
Archangels,  and  the  Angels. 

'  Thrones,    Dominations,    Princedoms,    Virtues, 

Powers,' 

'  The  mighty  regencies  of  Seraphim, 
And  Potentates,'  '  in  their  triple  degrees.'  l 

So  perfect  in  its  several  component  parts  is  this 
Society,  that  we  have  nothing  like  it  on  earth.  The 
Church  will  only  perhaps  attain  to  the  possession  of 
a  likeness  to  it  when  she  herself  arrives  at  that 
city  above  where,  like  these  threefold  hierarchies 
of  the  angels  with  their  equal  number  of  ranks,  we 
are  told  '  the  length  and  the  breadth  and  the 
height  of  it  are  equal ' 2  in  the  faultless  form  of  its 
proportions.  We  cannot  hope,  therefore,  in  our 
present  condition,  so  far  from  so  perfect  a  model,  to 
apply  these  orders  in  detail  to  any  corresponding 
counterpart  in  the  Church.  No  such  counterpart 
exists.  There  are  no  defined  spheres  in  our  Church 
organisation  here  on  earth,  in  which  we  might  try 
and  manifest,  each  in  its  own  place  and  in  right 
relationship  to  all  the  rest,  those  several  graces 
which  we  behold  in  the  glorious  vision  of  those 
triple  hierarchies  above,  each  with  its  triad  of  ranks, 

1  Milton,  Paradise  Lost,  v.  601  &c.  -  Rev.  xxi.  16. 


8o  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

each  rank  ablaze  with  its  own  clear-shining  and 
exemplified  form  of  spiritual  life  and  light.  All 
that  we  can  endeavour  to  do  now  is  to  learn  from 
that  vision  some  broad  unmistakable  truths,  and 
to  seek  then  to  realise  them  here  as  best  and  where 
we  can. 

One  great  truth,  then,  as  we  begin  to  lift  our 
eyes,  we  surely  can  in  outline  discern — namely,  the 
great  truth  and  principle  of  distinguishing  between 
vocations.  The  society  there  is  one  ;  thej_chorus 
there  is  one  ;  the  family  there  is  one  ;  one  great 
army  under  one  great  Head,  permeated  and  domin 
ated  throughout  by  one  Divine  and  single  Will,  to 
bow  to  which  is  the  one  common  joy  of  all,  by  which 
all  (to  use  Milton's  beautiful  expression)  are  ever 
'  evenly '  ruled,1  comprises  every  host  and  band  ; 
one  great  act  of  worship  is  the  one  source  of  the 
quickening  of  that  spiritual  life  which  throbs  through 
every  angel  of  all  that  one  holy  company  ;  and 
yet  there  are  no  two  ranks  throughout  that  mani 
fold  array  which  are  endowed  with  the  same  gifts 
or  identified  with  the  same  occupation.  Every 
where  we  behold  different  spirits  living  in  different 
vocations.  No  two  among  them  reveal  in  the  same 
way  the  inexhaustible  wisdom  of  God. 

*  Ten  thousand  thousand  ensigns  high  advanced, 
Standards  and  gonfalons  'twixt  van  and  rear 
Stream  in  the  air,  and  for  distinction  serve 
Of  hierarchies,  of  orders,  and  degrees.' 2 

1  Samson  Agonistes,  671.         2  Milton,  Paradise  Lost,  v.  588. 


THEIR  CORPORATE  LIFE  81 

Turning  to  earth,  the  Church  of  England,  it  was 
once  said,  had  two  great  things  to  learn,  '  conver 
sion  and  vocation,' — that  is  to  say,  their  principles, 
as  requiring  to  be  both  spiritually  and  scientifically 
understood.     It   is   still,    perhaps,    the    Church    of 
England's  lack  of  knowledge  of  the  former  which 
leaves  to  various  Nonconformist  agencies  much  of 
their  spiritual  force  ;  and  it  is  still,  perhaps,  the 
Church  of  England's  lack  of  knowledge  of  the  latter 
which  leaves  to  the  Church  of  Rome  much  of  her 
present  power.     But  the  lack  of  knowledge  of  the 
former  is  due,  really,  in  large  measure,  to  lack  of 
knowledge    of    the    latter.     Despite    the    increase, 
thank  God,  of  '  missions '   (though  often  brought 
about    by   light    thrown    upon    the    Church    from 
without  rather  than  from  light  emanating  spon 
taneously    from    the    Church    within),    the    great 
crying  need  of  the  Church  to-day  is  still  the  crying 
need  for  real  evangelists.     The  man  who  can  give 
addresses  is  too  often  even  yet  considered,  merely 
because  of  this,  to  be  the  same  as  the  man  who  so 
gives  his  addresses  as  then  and  thereby  to  bring 
about  conversions.     There  appears  to  be  no  serious 
general  attempt  at  present  to  discern,  and  so  to 
train  and  develop,  such  an  all-important  vocation 
as  that  of  an  evangelist.     And  the  need  of  this 
sense  of  appreciating  '  vocation  '  is  seen  in  other 
ways.     Our  parochial  system,  as  it  is  at  present,  is 
an  example  of  it.     It  would  be  simply  unimaginable 


82  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

that,  in  heaven,  an  angel  could  be  allotted  a  certain 
portion  of  its  realms  from  which,  if  he  was  so 
minded,  he  could  exclude  his  companions  (were 
such  a  thing  possible  with  an  angel),  while  all  the 
time  his  own  spiritual  capacities  were  contracting 
within  a  prescribed  zone  of  isolation  ;  and  while  he 
was  discarding  increasing  needs  there  for  spiritual 
energies  in  shutting  his  eyes  to  his  incapacity 
for  forwarding  any  further  the  Divine  interests 
in  that  particular  locality  wherein  he  was  situated. 
Although,  indeed,  with  the  rising  tide  and  higher 
level  of  spiritual  public  opinion  which,  thank  God, 
has  been  coming  over  us  (a  tide,  however,  which 
can  also  have  its  ebb),  what  we  have  described  is 
becoming  happily  less  an  actual  fact,  it  still  never 
theless  remains  that  that  single  act  of  the  appoint 
ment  to  a  cure  of  souls,  in  the  regime  of  the  Church 
of  England,  can  be  the  act  of  condemning  a  precious 
flock  of  the  blood-bought  sheep  of  Christ  to  the 
forfeiture  of  all  other  blessings  of  all  other  vocations 
except  that  of  the  particular  individual  appointed 
over  it, — granting  that  he  had  a  vocation.  Wesley 
himself  declared  that  he  had  not  found  the  man  in 
whom  were  all  the  qualifications  requisite  for  the 
complete  bringing  about  of  the  conversion  of  a 
single  individual  soul.  We  may  yet  learn  from 
Wesley,  and  bear  in  mind  that,  as  we  look  up  to  the 
holy  angelic  hills,  in  conformity  to  whose  outline 
God  would  shape  the  rising  structure  of  his  Church 


THEIR  CORPORATE  LIFE  83 

on  earth,  no  boundary  of  their  perfect  ranges  ap 
pears  graced  with  but  a  solitary  peak. 

The  next  great  outlined  truth  which  strikes  our 
vision,  as  we  gaze  on  this  nine-fold  order,  is  con 
tained  in  the  three  great  groupings  into  which  their 
ranks  are  gathered  :  the  Contemplative,  the  Regu 
lative,  and  the  Administrative.  This  order  of 
grouping  shows  that  just  as  in  administrations 
there  are  no  true  or  effective  activities  but  those 
which  spring  from  great  underlying,  regulating 
principles,  so,  in  the  same  way,  are  there  no  great 
underlying  principles  of  regulation  which,  in  their 
turn,  are  not  born  of  the  highest  and  holiest  con 
templation.  It  is  the  contemplative  orders  which 
in  heaven  are  those  nearest  to  God,  Who  is  the 
fount  of  all  outflowing  gradations  of  life.  We  do 
not  forget  our  Tenth  Book  of  Aristotle,  telling  us 
that  pleasure  is  not  a  motion  but  a  vision,  and  that 
man's  highest  happiness  is  in  contemplation,  where 
in  he  approaches  that  life  which  is  nearest  to  the 
Divine.  That  ancient  philosopher,  though  writing 
before  the  Christian  era  had  dawned  upon  the 
earth,  was  surely  '  not  far  from  the  kingdom  of 
God.'  Are  we,  in  this  matter,  as  near  ?  Reverence 
for  simple  truth  demands  that  we  acknowledge  that 
both  the  Roman  and  the  Greek  Communions  are 
closer  to  it  than  ourselves.  They  still  bestow  their 
highest  esteem  on  those  who  embrace  the  '  religious 
life,'  that  specified  recognition  of  spiritual  con- 

G  2 


84  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

templation  as  the  chiefest  function  of  the  inner 
activities  of  the  Church — a  life  which,  as  even 
Aristotle  can  teach  us,  we  should  consider  apart 
from,  and  if  need  be,  safeguard  and  deliver  from, 
abuses  or  degradations  into  which  those  professing 
it  may  have  fallen,  and  which  so  far  only  show  us, 
not  what  it  really  is,  but  what  it  really  is  not.  In 
England  we  quickly  appreciate  what  is  '  practical,' 
that  is  to  say,  anything  within  the  hierarchies  of 
administration  ;  and  more  or  less,  too,  the  study  of 
regulative  principles  and  laws  by  which  administra 
tion  can  be  made  most  effective  ;  but  where  religion 
cannot  be  seen  in  some  actual  working  for  our 
betterment  in  making  life  more  acceptable  around 
us,  our  English  mind  is  not  so  ready  to  follow.  We 
have  in  a  large  sense  lost  that  spiritual  faculty 
for  tracing  the  seen  into  that  which  is  not  seen,  and 
for  perceiving  that  after  all  it  is  from  there  that 
what  we  see  takes  its  birth  and  has  its  origin  ; 
and  that  just  as  profitable  action  is  only  possible 
by  being  the  outcome  of  what  has  been  thoroughly 
thought  out,  and  profitable  thinking  a  thing  out  is 
only  possible  if  based  upon  principles  ascertained 
by  long  observation,  so,  in  things  religious,  profitable 
Church  work  is  only  possible  by  being  the  outcome 
of  qualifications  for  regulating  it  thoroughly  under 
stood,  and  that  regulative  qualifications  to  be 
thoroughly  understood  can  only  be  possible  when 
they  have  been  acquired  in  the  silent  school  of 


THEIR   CORPORATE   LIFE  85 

prayer  and  contemplation.  We  can  appreciate  an 
angelic  being  when  he  stirs  the  pool  of  life,  and  by 
that  stir  brings  about  the  beneficent  healing  of  our 
sores  ;  but  we  do  not  appreciate  so  well  the  fact 
that  that  angel  starts  from  an  unseen  heaven  from 
whence  his  powers  are  derived,  and  wherein  he  is 
linked  to  a  chain  of  higher  angelic  agencies  leading 
direct  to  the  throne  of  God.  To  be  concerned  only 
with  the  lower  links  of  a  chain  because  there  their 
tension  can  be  seen  in  lifting  the  weights  of  mortals, 
and  to  ignore  those  which  are  above  simply  because 
they  are  out  of  view — although  they  bear  not  only 
the  weights  which  are  on  the  lower  links,  but  also 
the  weight  of  the  lower  links  themselves — is  not,  in 
the  truest  sense,  '  practical '  ;  for,  in  the  long  run, 
if  attention  is  only  given  to  the  chain  at  its  nearer 
parts,  while  the  further  are  left  unconsidered,  it 
will  at  length  become  broken,  and  then  that  practical 
work  be  both  damaged  and  delayed.  It  may  well 
be  questioned  whether  it  would  be  possible  to  be 
carrying  on  the  practical  administrative  work  of 
the  Church  to-day,  as  it  is,  if  those  gone  before 
had  not  largely  done  our  thinking  and  contem 
plating  for  us.  We  have  only  to  bear  in  mind  such 
names  as  those  of  St.  Columba  and  lona,  St.  Aidan 
and  Lindisfarne,  St.  Augustine  and  Canterbury,  to 
remember  how  much  the  regulative  and  administra 
tive  work  of  the  Church  in  our  land  to-day  had  its 
origin  in  the  great  religious  contemplative  orders 


86  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

of  old  :  as  the  broad  rivers  of  earth,  which  regulate 
the   boundaries    and   habitations    of   nations,    and 
administer  to  their  necessities  and  pleasures,  come 
from   the   far-off   hills   whose   silent    summits    are 
hid  in  the  skies  above,  from  whence  they  distil 
those  dews  that  generate  the  river-making  streams 
which  then  flow  into   the   plains  below.     At   the 
Conference  of  Bishops  of  the  Anglican  Communion 
at   Lambeth   Palace   in    1897,    the   resolution   was 
passed    and    reported    that :    '  We  recognise  with 
thankfulness  to  Almighty  God  the  manifold  tokens 
of  His  blessing  upon  the  revival  of  Religious  Com 
munities  in  our  branch  of  the  Church  Catholic.  .  .  . 
We  desire  to  secure  to  Communities  all  reasonable 
freedom   of  organisation   and  development.     Such 
freedom  is  essential  to  the  due  exercise  of  spiritual 
gifts.'     And  then  follow  helpful  suggestions  for  the 
realising  this  development.     The  Church  of  England 
drew  near  then  to  what  is  revealed  in  the  vision  of  the 
first  hierarchy  above.   May  she  continue  to  draw  near, 
until  the  counterpart  of  that  revelation  becomes  a 
settled  factor  of  her  organisation  in  our  midst  to-day. 
If  we  look  into  the  composition  of  this  hierarchy 
of  the  contemplative  orders  we  find,  as  we  should 
expect,  that  its  three  ranks  or  grades  reveal  to  us 
the  three  great  elements  of  the  contemplative  life 
itself.     First  and  highest  of  these  ranks,  and  of  all 
the  hosts  of  angels,  come  the  Seraphim.     These,  the 
chief est  in  heaven,   are  only  mentioned  in   Holy 


THEIR  CORPORATE  LIFE  87 

Scripture  by  Isaiah,1  where  they  appear  as  the 
proclaimers  of  Jehovah's  holiness.  '  Holy,  Holy, 
Holy,  is  the  Lord  of  Hosts  :  the  whole  earth  is  full 
of  His  glory,'  is  the  burden  of  their  song.  If  the 
word  '  Seraphim '  is  not  derived  from  an  Arabic 
term  meaning  'to  be  noble,'  but  from  a  Hebrew 
word  meaning  (not,  as  often  stated,  '  to  glow  with,' 
but)  '  to  consume  with  fire,'  in  the  sense  of  '  to 
purify '  (and  this  would  be  in  accordance  with  their 
taking  the  burning  coal  from  off  the  altar  where 
with  to  purify  the  lips  of  the  prophet-elect),  then 
the  Seraphim  are  not  only  the  proclaimers,  but  also 
the  guardians  of  Jehovah's  holiness.  The  first 
element,  then,  in  the  contemplative  life,  which  these 
highest  angels,  the  Seraphim,  embody  and  sustain, 
is  that  of  '  sanctity.' 

Following  the  Seraphim  comes,  next  in  order, 
the  second  grade  in  this  choir,  the  Cherubim. 
These  are  the  special  guardians  of  the  '  knowledge  ' 
of  Jehovah.  The  Jewish  philosopher  of  Alexandria, 
Philo,  so  describes  their  function  ;  and  the  Fathers 
of  the  Christian  Church  also  teach  the  same.  The 
Rabbis  regarded  them  as  youthful  angels  ;  and  in 
answer  to  the  question  '  What  is  the  meaning  of 
Cherubim  ?  '  gave  the  reply,  '  The  word  Cherubim 
is  equivalent  to  a  growing  child.'  They  are  depicted 
in  art  as  with  the  faces  of  children,  since  it  is  child 
like  purity  of  heart  and  childlike  simplicity  which 


88  A   BOOK  OF  ANGELS 

are  the  requisite  qualifications  for  knowledge. 
They  had  their  representation  in  the  '  oracle,'  or 
'Holy  of  Holies,'  in  Solomon's  Temple,1  where 
God's  Word  was  heard  and  made  known.  Like 
knowledge,  which  '  runs  to  and  fro  over  the  earth,' 
they  are  described  as  '  flying ' 2  with  lightning 
speed.3  They  also  shade,  with  outstretched  wings, 
the  Mercy  Seat,4  since,  in  the  initial  stages  of 
approach  to  God,  it  is  mercy  and  '  truth '  which 
meet  together.5  But  these  angels  of  '  knowledge  ' 
are  joined  to  the  Seraphim,  the  angels  of  '  sanctity,' 
the  rank  in  order  above  them.  It  is  knowledge  in 
connection  with,  not  apart  from,  holiness,  which  is 
the  great  teaching  they  emphasise.  They  ward  off 
from  the  tree  of  Life  all  who  have  unholily  sought 
to  partake  of  the  tree  of  knowledge,6  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  call  and  invite  into  the  mysteries 
of  God  those  who  have  entered  into  the  heavenly 
state.7  It  is  in  exemplification  of  this  same  position 
which  they  take  in  regard  to  holiness  that,  while 
represented,  as  we  have  seen,  within  the  oracle  of 
the  Holy  of  Holies,  they  are  also  shown  on  the  veil 
which  shields  that  Holy  of  Holies  from  profanation.8 
Next  to  the  Cherubim  come  the  'Thrones.' 
These  are  they  who  are  mentioned  by  St.  Paul,  in 
his  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  where  he  tells  us  that 

1  i  Kings  vi.  23-29.          2  Ps.  xviii.  10.  3  Ezek.  x. 

1  Ezek.  xxviii.  14^  ;  Heb.  ix.  5.          5  Ps.  Ixxxv.  ioa  ;  Ixi.  76. 

6  Gen.  iii.  24.        "  Rev.  vi.  i,  3,  5,  7,  R.V.        8  Ex.  xxvi.  31. 


THEIR  CORPORATE  LIFE  89 

the  Father  created  all  things  by  the  Son,  both  '  in 
the  heavens  and  upon  the  earth,  things  visible  and 
things  invisible,  whether  thrones  or  dominions  or 
principalities  or  powers.' 1  This  rank  of  angels,  being 
the  third  of  the  orders  of  the  Contemplative  Choir, 
and  so  coming  immediately  above  the  first  of  the 
orders  of  the  succeeding  Regulative  Choir,  occupies 
a  position  in  which  all  the  elements  of  contempla 
tion  form  a  '  throne,'  or  seat,  or  basis  for  that  work 
of  regulation  and  administration  which  is  thence  to 
flow  forth  from  them.  It  is  from  this  point  in  the 
Contemplative  Choir  that  the  Regulative  and  the 
Administrative  Choirs  take  their  governing  course  of 
procedure.  The  Thrones,  in  the  supreme  and  holy 
work  of  contemplation,  embody  and  safeguard  all 
knowledge  born  from  its  sanctity,  and  put  it  into 
that  shape  by  which  it  forms  a  '  throne  '  or  directing 
basis  for  all  that  then  is  to  profit  by  it.  These 
three  elements  of  the  contemplative  life  as  mani 
fested  by  this  first  hierarchy  of  angels,  if  applied  to 
a  religious  community  of  some  contemplative 
order  on  earth,  might  be  then  said  to  stand  for,  first, 
the  holiness  of  its  members,  their  real  unworldliness 
of  spirit  and  personal  sanctification,  their  life  of 
holy  services,  fasting,  and  discipline ;  secondly, 
their  life  of  divine  study  in  the  Word  of  God  and  in 
theology,  in  its  various  branches  and  departments  ; 
and,  thirdly,  their  work  of  reducing  and  putting 
1  Col.  i.  16,  R.V. 


90  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

this  forth  in  such  a  shape  and  form  as  shall  make 
it  a  useful  basis  for  the  service  of  the  Church's 
regulative  and  administrative  work  in  her  discharge 
of  those  duties  to  the  world  which  she  holds  in 
commission  from  her  Master. 

But  we  must  not  limit  this  teaching  from  the 
contemplative  orders  of  the  angels  to  the  sole 
sphere  of  a  religious  community.  These  angelic- 
taught  truths  contain  great  and  fundamental 
principles  which  belong  to  the  Church  as  a  whole, 
and  never  were  more  needed  to  be  considered  than 
to-day.  For  to  many  trembling  sheep  of  Christ's 
flock,  what  are  their  heavens  seem  to  be  shaken. 
They  had  thought  their  '  throne  '  of  Holy  Scripture, 
that  divine  knowledge  of  the  sanctified  Church 
embodied  into  a  shape  which  can  apply  a  basis  for 
all  regulative  and  administrative  Christian  life,  was 
established.  But,  so  in  their  distress  it  appears  to 
them,  the  Cherubim,  out  of  whom  that  throne  is 
formed,  have  been  wearing  but  masks.  Those 
child-like  faces  they  had  trusted  in  providing  for 
their  souls  a  resting-place,  seem  now  but  a  mocking 
taunt  of  a  childishness  which  has  been  all  their 
own,  a  childishness  which — almost  with  shame — 
they  should  quickly  put  away.  To  what  are  they 
to  turn  ?  they  ask.  Where  is  the  throne  of  truth 
on  which  their  lives  can  be  established  ?  What 
would  be  the  security  for  the  knowledge  which 
makes  it  ?  And  what,  again,  would  be  the  security 


THEIR  CORPORATE  LIFE  91 

for  that  ?     And  the  answer  comes  from  the  con 
templative  orders :    '  Fear  not.     The  Thrones  are 
linked  to  the  Cherubim,  as  the  Cherubim  are  linked 
to  the  Seraphim,  and  the  Seraphim  are  linked  to 
the  likeness  of  God's  Holiness  itself.     Sanctity  is 
the  basis  of  all.     Try  the  spirits  by  that.     Come 
what  may,  holiness  can  never  be  inconsistent  with 
itself,  nor  ever  therefore  lead  astray.     Its  outward 
form  of  speaking  may  appear  different  at  different 
times,  inasmuch  as  words  which  it  uses  may  be  dis 
covered  to  have  different  derivations  from  those 
which    we    had    supposed,    but    the    character  of 
holiness  itself,  which  speaks  to  us  by  these  words, 
can  never  be  anything  but  the  same,  and  therefore 
the  truth  which  through  these  words  it  declares, 
be  they  what  they  may,  is  ever  one  and  the  same 
also.     The  first  question  in  sifting  truth,  in  such  a 
case  as  this  which  we  are  considering,  is  not  "  What 
has  been  spoken  ?  "  but  "  Who  has  spoken  it  ?  " 
If  Holiness  has  spoken  it,  then,  come  what  may, 
Holiness   can   never  be   a   contradiction   to   itself. 
Could  we,  the  first  hierarchy  of  the  angels  above, 
have  remained  in  our  eternal,  impregnable  order, 
had  anything  else  been  the  case  ?  '     This,  then,  is 
what  the  angels  put  to  us  :  are  those  who  come 
forward  with  what  appear  to  us  new  teachings, 
men  who  are  truly  spiritual  ?     We  are  to  decide 
what  they  say  by  that.     For  though  things  spiritual 
enter  into  mundane  conditions,  yet,  inasmuch  as 


92  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

they  also  are  under  laws  which  are  higher  than  any 
which  belong  to  all  other  things  on  earth,  they 
cannot  be  solely  measured  and  weighed  and  judged 
as  would  be  anything  else  which  is  mundanely 
conditioned.  A  substance  charged  with  electricity 
cannot  have  its  appearances  and  movements 
criticised  precisely  as  would  that  same  identical 
substance  elsewhere,  apart  from  that  electric 
current.  A  person,  to  judge  here  aright,  must 
either  be  experimentally  acquainted  with,  or  else 
humbly  admit  the  presence  and  confess  his  ignor 
ance  of,  in  this  particular  case,  a  new  and  super- 
added  element.  Were  he  not  to  do  so,  all  his 
criticisms  and  conclusions  would  be  at  fault.  The 
more  clever  and  brilliant,  too,  his  mind,  the  more 
ingeniously  and  plausibly  would  his  every  error  of 
explanation  be  argued  and  sustained,  and  the 
more  misleading,  to  the  unwary,  would  he  become  ; 
so  that  the  acuteness  of  his  mind  in  itself,  which  in 
other  circumstances  would  be  the  ground  for  our 
following  him,  being  divorced  from  an  acquaintance 
with  this  differentiating  element,  is  here  the  very 
ground  for  our  being  at  every  point  distrustful  of 
him.  So  is  it,  and  so  will  it  ever  be,  so  long  as  the 
eternal  laws  which  govern  angels  are  the  same  as 
those  which  govern  human  beings,  with  all  who 
venture  to  measure  and  weigh  and  decide  upon 
that  Book  which,  while  having  things  in  common 
with  what  all  other  books  have,  yet  has  also  a 


THEIR  CORPORATE   LIFE  93 

something  of  its  own  which  no  other  book  possesses. 
Have,  then,  those  who  judge  it  an  experimental 
knowledge  of  this  differentiating  element  ?  Are 
they  men  who  are  spiritual,  as  well  as  men  who  are 
intellectual  ?  Without  the  former  qualification  what 
will  the  latter  do  for  them  (except  it  be  the  more 
cleverly  to  lead  them  wrong)  in  things  which  can 
only  be  discerned  by  a  faculty  which  is  in  corre 
spondence  with  that  differentiating  element  ?  For 
the  knowledge  of  the  things  of  God  we  must  go  to 
our  saint  before  our  savant ;  not  to  cherubim  who 
have  become  dislocated  or  fallen  from  their  fellow 
ship  with  seraphim,  but  to  cherubim  that  are 
allied  with  and  subordinated  to  seraphim. 

Passing  to  the  second  of  the  hierarchies,  that  of 
the  choir  of  the  Regulative  orders,  there  come 
before  us,  first,  the  c  Dominions  '  or  '  Dominations  ' 
(Kuriotetes).  These  are  they  to  whom  St.  Paul 
alludes  when,  writing  to  the  Ephesians,  he  says  that 
our  Blessed  Lord  was  raised  and  set  by  the  Father 
'  far  above  all  rule,  and  authority,  and  power,  and 
dominion,  and  every  name  that  is  named.' l  In  his 
Epistle  to  the  Colossians,2  which  we  have  already 
quoted,  we  get  the  same  word  in  the  plural.  Con 
sidering  the  context,  and  what  is  parallel  with  the 
passage,  it  would  seem  that  St.  Jude  is  referring  to  this 
angelic  order  when  he  describes  traitorous  members 
of  the  Christian  community  as,  amongst  other  things, 

1  i.  21,  R.V.  2  i.  1 6. 


94  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

those  who  '  despise  dominion.'  l  In  the  earliest  lists 
of  the  angels  which  have  come  down  to  us,  the 
4  Dominions '  were  known  as  amongst  the  highest 
grades.  This  order,  first  in  the  Regulative,  and 
therefore  nearest  to  the  Contemplative  Choir,  accepts 
from  the  Thrones  the  fruits  of  Holy  contemplation 
duly  arranged  into  a  basis  for  regulation  which  is 
to  follow,  and,  under  God  and  as  His  special  ministry 
for  this,  transmutes  them  into  that  form  first  re 
quired  for  regulative  purposes — namely,  as  the 
Greek  word  of  their  title  and  its  derivation  implies, 
into  that  of  great  '  heads  '  or  '  founts  '  of  regulation. 
These  are  the  fruits  of  contemplation  as  they  are 
first  seen  in  the  '  Lordliness '  of  that  attitude  in 
which  they  appear,  when  they  come  forth  for  the 
purpose  of  definite  application. 

Following  the  Dominions  come  the  '  Virtues ' 
(Dunameis),  the  second  of  the  three  grades  of  the 
Regulative  Choir.  The  Greek  word  of  their  title, 
translated  in  connection  with  the  heavenly  orders 
as  'Virtues,'  is  translated  as  'powers'  in  Rom.  viii. 
38,  and  '  might '  in  Eph.  i.  21  ('  power  '  in  Revised 
Version),  while  in  2  Thess.  i.  7  it  also  is  translated 
'  power '  (the  passage  being  literally  '  angels  of 
power  of  him ').  But  since  the  other  Greek  word 
of  the  title  of  the  next  grade  of  this  choir  is  also 
translated  '  power '  in  a  larger  number  of  passages 
in  the  New  Testament,  this  word  here  for  this  order 

1  Verse  8. 


THEIR  CORPORATE   LIFE  95 

is  termed,  as  stated,  '  Virtues.'  It  is  the  word 
used  by  our  blessed  Lord  when  He  said  that  He 
perceived  that  '  virtue  '  had  gone  out  of  Him,  after 
the  hem  of  His  garment  had  been  touched  by  the 
woman  who  was  then  immediately  healed.1  In 
other  connections  in  the  New  Testament  it  is  also 
translated  '  virtue,'  as  well  as  sometimes  '  might,' 
'  ability,'  '  strength.'  These  angels  teach  us  that 
when,  in  regulative  work,  the  position  of  '  head 
ship  '  is  taken,  it  must  be  taken  firmly.  The  first 
quality  of  recognisable  leadership  and  control  must 
be  '  strength.'  The  word  l  virtue  '  is  akin  to  that 
of  '  virile,'  meaning  '  that  which  pertains  to  a 
man  '  ('  vir  '  being  the  Latin  word  for  '  man  '),  as 
distinct,  for  instance,  from  the  word  '  puerile ' 
which  means  '  that  which  pertains  to  a  boy.'  It 
has  been  sadly  remarked  sometimes  that  men  who 
have  been  known  and  looked  up  to  as  *  strong ' 
previous  to  their  elevation  to  some  post  of  '  domi 
nion,'  have  seemed,  upon  being  raised  to  that 
post,  to  become  more  deferential  to  the  world,  and 
proportionately  spiritually  weaker.  This  order  in 
the  angelic  choir,  embodying  and  sustaining  as  it 
does  the  element  of  strength  in  connection  with 
dominion,  rebukes  any  just  cause  for  such  a  remark 
as  this.  Amongst  the  holy  angels,  spiritual  strength, 
not  weakness,  flows  from  positions  of  responsibility. 
But  this  regulating  strength  is  exceedingly 

1  St.  Mark  v.  30. 


96  A  BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

tender.  The  strong  lordship  of  the  angels  has 
nothing  in  common  with  the  '  lording  it  over  others  ' 
of  the  world,  as  this  the  next,  the  third  rank  of  this 
choir,  comes  forward  now  to  tell  us.  These  are  the 
'  Powers.'  The  Greek  word  of  their  title  (Exousiai) 
is  in  some  passages  of  Holy  Scripture  translated 
4  authority,' l  but  in  others,  as  taken  for  the  title 
here,  it  is  translated  '  power.' 2  It  is  a  word  which 
is  compounded  of  two  other  Greek  words  ('  ex ' 
and  '  eimi '),  meaning  *  to  go  out,'  that  is,  here,  to 
go  out  of  ourselves  towards  others'  needs  and  con 
cerns.  It  is,  perhaps,  the  corresponding  term  to  our 
word  '  influence,'  which  means  our  '  inflowing '  or 
'  flowing  in  '  towards  others,  regulating  them  by  the 
instilling  our  thoughts  (as  they  are  given  us  from 
above)  into  their  minds,  our  purposes  into  their 
wills,  our  desires  into  their  hearts.  As  Lacordaire 
finely  says,  '  The  only  coercive  force  of  the  Church 
is  persuasion.'  It  means  the  constant  flow  of  the 
stream  from  us  to  them  ;  never  working  to  seek 
popularity,  or  adulation,  or  praise,  or  even  gratitude, 
which  would  be  to  reverse  the  stream,  and  to  turn 
it  from  them  to  us.  We  should  then  cease  from 
'  influencing,'  really,  and  ourselves  be  the  influ 
enced,  or  those  '  inflowed ' ;  and  the  '  power  '  would 
therefore,  not  be  from  us,  but  to  us.  Thus  this 
beautiful  order  embodies  and  sustains  that  particular 

1  i  Cor.  xv.  24  ;  Eph.  i.  21,  R.V.  ;   i  St.  Pet.  iii.  22. 

2  Eph.  i.  21  ;  iii.  10  ;  vi.  12  ;  Col.  ii.  10. 


THEIR   CORPORATE   LIFE  97 

teaching  of  God  which  shows  that  all  strength  which 
does  not  come  with  a  '  suaviter  in  modo  '  is  instinct 
ively  debarred  by  those  towards  whom  it  is  ex 
erted,  and  so,  becoming  thrown  back  upon  itself, 
ultimately  discovers  itself  to  be  no  '  power.'  For 
posts  of  responsibility  to  give  forth  regulating 
strength,  which  at  the  same  time  is  also  to  be  a 
'  power,'  there  must  be  that  which  these  blessed 
angels  are  called  into  existence  to  emphasise — namely, 
the  giving  it  forth  in  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice : 
remembering  that  men,  as  angels,  are  free-willed 
beings,  not  logs  of  wood  or  stone  ;  and  that  if  the 
supreme  Regulator  above,  the  Son  of  God  Himself, 
so  reverences  that  free-will  with  which  the  heavenly 
Father  has  endowed  His  creatures,  that,  so  far  from 
battering  it  down  or  trying  to  overwhelm  it,  He  will 
even  die  to  win  it,  how  much  more  should  we  act  in 
that  same  spirit  in  our  dealings  towards  each  other. 
Last  in  order  of  the  three  hierarchies  comes  the 
choir  of  the  Administrative  Angels,  the  first  grade 
of  which  is  that  of  the  '  Principalities,'  or  '  Prince 
doms.'  The  mention  of  this  order,  as  we  have  seen, 
comes  in  most  of  the  passages  of  Holy  Scripture 
where  allusion  is  made  to  the  ranks  of  the  angels. 
The  Greek  word  of  their  title  (Archai)  is  always 
translated  by  the  Authorised  Version  '  Principality,' 
or  '  Principalities,'  as  the  case  may  be,  when  applied 
to  this  angelic  order,  with  the  exception  of  i  Cor. 
xv.  24,  where  it  is  translated  '  rule.'  It  is  also 

H 


98  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

translated  '  rule  '  by  the  Revised  Version  (but  not  by 
the  Authorised  Version)  in  Eph.  i.  21.  The  Greek 
word  '  Arche,'  which  is  its  form  in  the  singular,  means 
4  beginning,'  '  the  outermost  point  in  space,'  &c. 
When  all  the  holy  Contemplative  Angels,  in  their 
several  degrees,  have  finished  their  work  for  any 
given  matter,  and  when  all  the  Regulative  Angels, 
also  in  their  several  degrees,  have  taken  up  that 
work  and  shaped  it  ready  for  action,  then  what  is  it 
that  remains  as  the  next  step  to  be  fulfilled  ?  Just 
that  which  is  specially  committed  to  this  rank,  the 
head  of  the  Administrative  Choir — the  step  of 
initiation.  Oh !  that  Grace  of  initiation !  How 
we  do  well  to  honour  those  who,  like  these  holy 
angels  here,  after  the  ;  what  ought  to  be  done  '  has 
been  thought  out,  and  after  the  '  how  it  should  be 
done '  has  been  planned,  in  regard  to  some  great 
and  pressing  need,  come  then  forward  with  those 
special  graces  and  gifts  with  which  God  has  endowed 
them  for  this  very  purpose,  and  do  that  blessed 
work  of  '  beginning,'  initiating  what  is  required— 
those  true  spirits  of  faith  in  God  who  '  give  substance 
to  things  hoped  for,'  l  the  principals,  the  prime 
movers,  in  every  work  that  is  good. 

But  true  initiation  involves  '  the  sacred  duty  of 
delegation  '  ;  as  the  initiator  of  some  great  public 
work  has  his  chiefs  or  foremen,  who  extend,  or 
repeat,  his  initiation  in  those  particular  depart 
ments  or  spheres  of  that  work  which  is  allotted  to 
1  Heb.  xi.  i,  R.V.  M. 


THEIR  CORPORATE   LIFE  99 

them,  and  for  which  they  have  their  own  and 
special  gifts.  Such  chiefs  amongst  the  holy  angels 
form  the  second  order  of  this  third,  the  Administra 
tive,  choir.  They  are  the  Archangels.  An  Arch 
angel  is  mentioned  by  St.  Paul  in  connection  with 
the  Second  Coming  of  our  Lord,  though  he  does 
not  tell  us  his  name.1  And  St.  Jude  speaks  of 
St.  Michael  as  '  the  archangel.' 2  As  with  the 
special  spheres,  and  with  the  special  gifts  for  those 
spheres,  of  the  initiating  activities  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
Himself,  in  His  present  office  of  Supreme  Ad 
ministrator  to  the  world — the  number  of  the  arch 
angels  is  seven.  In  the  Book  of  Tobit,  which  the 
Church  tells  us  to  read  for  example  of  life,  St. 
Raphael  states  that  he  is  '  one  of  the  seven ' 3 ; 
and  this  appears  to  be  their  number  in  Ezekiel.4 
Of  these  seven,  Holy  Scripture  gives  us  but  the 
names  of  the  two  just  mentioned,  together  with 
that  of  St.  Gabriel,  and,  in  the  Book  of  Esdras,  that 
of  St.  Uriel.5  St.  Michael  appears  as  the  great 
administrative  initiator  in  the  whole  conduct  of 
that  war  upon  the  earth  which  is  being  waged 
between  the  forces  of  good  and  evil.  Replacing 
Lucifer,  who  then  became  Satan,  at  his  fall,  the 
charge  of  this  planet  as  regards  angelic  ministries 
seems  to  have  succeeded  to  him,  and  he  appears  as 
the  leader  of  all  those  angel  hosts  who,  in  co- 

1  i  Thess.  iv.  16.  2  Verse  9.  3  xii.  15. 

4  ix.  2.  *  2  Esdras  iv.  i  &c. 

H  2 


ioo  A  BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

operation  with  the  Church,   are  now  engaged  in 
entirely  wresting  this  world  from  Satan  and  bringing 
it  back  again  to  God.     It  is  in  this  aspect  that  he 
comes  before  us  in  the  Revelation  of  St.  John  the 
Divine,  where  we  read  that  '  Michael  and  his  angels 
fought  against  the  dragon  '  l  ;    as  of    old   he  had 
warded  off  the  devil  from  his  attempts  to  interfere 
with  the   body   of   Moses2;  and,  again,  that   evil 
spirit  which,  dominating  the  heathen  influences  of 
Persia,  had  endeavoured  to  hinder  a  message  coming 
from    heaven    to    Daniel 3 ;    while   afterwards    we 
find  him  gathering  the  hosts  of  heaven  in  order 
to  come  to  the  aid  of  Daniel's  people,  that  is  the 
people  of  God.4     His  beautiful  name,  which   sig 
nifies  '  Who  is  like  God  ?  '  reveals  to  us  that    the 
object  of  all  that  he  initiates  in  his  administrations 
for  the  carrying  on  of  this  warfare,  and  the  great 
secret  of  his  power  in  doing  so,  lies  in  this— his 
recognition  of  the  sovereignty  of  God  in  everything. 
St.  Gabriel,  whose  name  signifies  '  the  strength  of 
God,'  appears  to  be  the  initiating  administrator  for 
all  that  appertains  to  the  supplies  for  this  war. 
While  St.  Michael  exemplifies  that  spirit  of  righteous 
intolerance  of  all  that  is  evil,  St.  Gabriel  teaches  us 
that  it  is  out  of  our  very  weakness  that  God  will 
impart  to  us  the  requisite  strength  for  carrying  out 
that    righteous   intolerance,  till   Satan   is   trodden 
down  under  our  feet.     Hence  St.   Gabriel  is   the 

1  xii.  7.          2  St.  Jude  9.          *  x.  13,  21.         4  xii,  i. 


THEIR   CORPORATE   LIFE  101 

messenger  of  the  Incarnation,  both  to  Daniel,  to 
whom  he  shows  that  there  will  one  day  arise  a 
strength  superior  to  the  worst  of  tyrannies  l  when 
Messiah  shall  come  2 ;  and  to  Zacharias,  informing 
him  that  he  would  be  the  father  of  St.  John 
the  Baptist,  the  forerunner  of  Christ,3  and  re 
buking  him  for  his  doubt  of  God's  power 4 ;  and 
to  the  Blessed  Virgin  herself,  announcing  to  her 
that  it  was  she  who  was  elected  to  be  the 
mother  of  the  Blessed  One  Himself.5  By  some 
St.  Gabriel  is  believed  to  be  the  angel  who 
strengthened  our  blessed  Lord  when  he  seemed  to 
*  reel  amid  that  solitary  fight '  in  the  garden  of 
Gethsemane.  The  Greek  word  there  used,  as  Dr. 
Mason  points  out,  is  a  remarkable  word,  implying 
that  the  angel  communicated  to  our  Lord  some 
inward  spiritual  force.  But,  further,  if  St.  Michael 
is  the  chief  administrator  of  the  plan  of  the  cam 
paign,  and  if  St.  Gabriel  is  the  chief  administrator 
of  all  that  appertains  to  its  supplies,  St.  Raphael, 
we  might  say,  is  the  chief  administrator  of  all  that 
appertains  to  the  medical  and  hospital  department 
in  this  war — the  binding-up  and  healing  of  those 
wounds  caused  by  the  ravages  of  sin  and  the  battle 
waged  against  sin.  His  name  signifies  '  the  healing 
of  God,'  and  we  find  him  sent  to  cure  Tobit  from  a 
disease  from  which  he  suffered  in  his  eyes,6  and  to 

1  viii.  1 6  &c.  -  ix.  25  &c.  a  St.  Luke  i.  13  &c. 

*  18-20.  5  26  &c.  «  Tobit  iii.  17. 


102  A  BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

preserve  him  from  danger  both  of  body  and  soul. 
He  is  also  believed  by  some  to  be  the  angel  that 
stirred  the  waters  of  the  pool  of  Bethesda,  after 
which,  whosoever  first  stepped  in  was  made  whole 
of  whatsoever  disease  he  had.1  If  we  endeavour  to 
gauge  the  office  of  Uriel,  who  converses  with  and 
explains  things  to  Esdras,  and  draw  an  inference 
from  the  title  he  bears,  which  is  a  proper  and  safe 
indication  to  follow,  and  which  signifies  '  the  light 
of  God,'  we  may,  perhaps,  regard  him  as  the  chief 
initiating  administrator  of  all  that  appertains  to  the 
intelligence  department,  so  to  speak,  in  this  spiritual 
conflict  below,  serving  alike  St.  Michael,  St.  Gabriel, 
and  St.  Raphael,  in  keeping  each  informed  about 
the  others. 

Finally,  working  with  and  under  these  Archangels, 
come  the  multitude  of  the  heavenly  hosts,  which 
form  the  third  order  of  this  the  third,  the  Administra 
tive  Choir,  the  rank  and  file  of  the  armies  of  God, 
generally  known  by  the  simple  term  '  angels.'  The 
word  '  angel,'  as  we  have  already  pointed  out,  signi 
fies  a  messenger  ;  for  wherever  they  appear,  and  in 
whatever  they  do,  these  pure  spirits  reflect  and 
declare  some  attribute  of  God.  As  the  great 
wrestle  of  the  warfare  is  not  for  a  part  of,  but  for 
the  whole  of  the  world,  they  appear  before  us 
throughout  the  pages  of  Holy  Scripture  in  connec 
tion  with  all  its  departments.  Some  of  them  pre- 

'  St.  John  v.  4. 


THEIR  CORPORATE   LIFE  103 

side  over  the  forces  of  nature ;  some  over  the 
policies  and  doings  of  nations  ;  but  chiefly  they 
come  before  us  as  '  ministering  spirits,  sent  forth 
to  do  service  for-  the  sake  of  them  that  shall  inherit 
salvation.' l  We  find  them  doing  this,  as  we  trace 
them  down  the  record  of  Scripture,  first  for  the 
chosen  family,  then  for  the  chosen  nation,  especially 
in  the  two  periods  when  Moses  and  Joshua  had 
departed  and  the  great  prophets  were  not  yet 
arisen,  and  when  it  had  gone  into  captivity  ;  and 
then,  and  now,  and  above  all,  for  the  Church,  the 
Body  of  Christ ;  watching,  as  we  saw  at  the  outset, 
and  learning  from  her  history,  joying  over  every- 
single  repentance  that  adds  another  child  of  God 
to  her  ranks,  ceaselessly  ministering  to  and  guarding 
her  members,  joining  in  her  acts  of  worship,  carrying 
her  faithful  departed  to  Paradise,  and  finally  reaping 
her  completed  numbers  into  the  garner  of  heaven  at 
the  last. 

Thus  this  Angelic  Choir  of  the  Administrative 
Orders  teaches  us  that  our  time  on  earth  is  no  time 
for  sloth,  or  sinful  ease,  or  dallying.  We  must  do 
the  good  we  can,  and  fight  the  good  fight,  while 
there  is  time  ;  and  each  of  us  in  his  own  department. 
Of  these  departments,  they  tell  us,  none  are  excluded. 
It  is  the  whole  lost  world,  and  nothing  less  than  the 
whole  lost  world,  which  is  to  be  recovered  and 
brought  back  to  God.  The  man  of  science  dealing 
with  the  mysteries  of  nature,  the  statesman  and  the 

1  Heb.  i.  14,  R.V. 


104  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

citizen  who  deal  with  problems  of  human  life,  and 
above  all,  the  member  and  worker  of  the  Christian 
Church,  the  initiated  Kingdom  of  God  in  our  midst,— 
these,  one  and  all  alike,  have  their  part  which  they 
fulfil  towards  the  bringing  about  of  that  final  consum 
mation,  '  God's  will  done,  as  in  heaven,  so  on  earth.' 

Our  Lord,  who  gave  us  this  thought  as  the  point 
from  which  our  study  was  to  start,  brings  us,  in 
following  it,  back  to  it  again  as  our  goal.  He  Who 
led  us  into  these  heavenly  ranks  that  we  might  see 
something  of  how  His  Will  is  being  done  in  heaven, 
now  brings  us  through  these  ranks  back  again  to 
earth,  that  we  may  more  perfectly  serve  Him  here 
from  what  He  has  just  shown  us  there.  How 
wonderful  is  Jesus  in  His  dealing  with  His  flock, 
His  blood-bought  flock  on  earth!  To  make  the 
word  of  His  teaching  more  glorious,  more  tran 
scendent  to  that  flock,  yea,  even  to  but  one  soul 
within  it,  He  will  use  nothing  less  than  the  whole 
hierarchies  of  heaven,  with  all  their  manifold  orders, 
and  with  all  the  great  laws  of  spirituality  and 
corporate  life  in  which  those  orders  are  contained, 
as  but  a  single  page  or  scroll  from  which  He  may 
converse  with  His  redeemed,  and  teach  that  redeemed 
one  of  his  trials  and  his  life.  To  all  who  hear  His 
voice  as  He  converses  from  this  scroll,  indeed, 

'  Angels  are  bright  still,  though  the  brightest  fell.' ] 

1  Macbeth  iv.  3. 


THEIR   CORPORATE   LIFE  105 

How  doubly  precious,  too,  to  have  from  Him  this 
page  in  days  like  our  own,  and  so  with  its  special 
message  to  ourselves ;  telling  us — when  society 
around  us  seems  to  be  drifting  more  and  more  into 
materialism,  when,  in  the  words  of  Wishart  to 
John  Knox,  the  Christian  *  wearies  of  the  world, 
perceiving  that  men  begin  to  weary  of  God,'  when 
things  held  as  unquestionable  and  Divine  are  being 
discarded  as  effete  and  of  a  bygone  age — that  we 
have  another  society,  a  society  of  '  innumerable 
hosts,  the  general  assembly  of  angels,'  to  which  we 
are  come,1  which  is  heavenly,  filled  with  pure  un 
sullied  joy,  eternal. 

O  most  Blessed  Jesus !  Redeemer,  Saviour, 
Friend  !  Higher  than  all  angels  and  every  crea- 
turely  existence  !  I  am  not  worthy  of  Thy  speaking 
to  me  by  such  a  page  as  this.  Make  me  to  become 
more  worthy.  Teach  me  how,  henceforth,  more 
perfectly  than  ever  before,  in  the  sacred  Eucharists 
of  Thy  Church,  with  these  Thy  holy  angels  and 
archangels,  and  with  all  the  company  of  heaven,  to 
laud  and  magnify  Thy  glorious  Name  ;  evermore 
praising  Thee,  and  saying,  Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  Lord 
God  of  hosts,  Heaven  and  earth  are  full  of  Thy 
glory  ;  Glory  be  to  Thee,  0  Lord  most  High. 

C.H.S. 

1  Heb.  xii.  22,  R.V.  M. 


CHAPTER    V 
Ube  Setapbfm 

The  Seraphim 
Who  keep  their  eyes  most  keenly  fixed  on  God. 

DANTE. 


A  SERAPH  winged.     Six  wings  he  wore,  to  shade 
His  lineaments  divine  ;  the  pair  that  clad 
Each  shoulder  broad  came  mantling  o'er  his  breast 
With  regal  armament ;  the  middle  pair 
Girt  like  a  starry  zone  his  waist,  and  round 
Skirted  his  loins  and  thighs,  with  downy  gold, 
And  colours  dipped  in  heaven  ;  the  third,  his  feet 
Shadowed  from  either  heel  with  feathered  mail, 
Sky  tinctured. 

Milton. 


Serapbim 

'  EXCELLING  IN  LOVE  ' 

To  The3  Cherubim  and  Seraphim  continually  do  cry. — 
Te  Deum. 

Above  Him  stood  the  seraphim  :  each  one  had  six  wings  : 
with  twain  he  covered  his  face,  with  twain  he  covered  his  feet, 
and  with  twain  he  did  fly.  And  one  cried  unto  another,  and 
said,  Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  is  the  Lord  of  hosts  :  the  whole  earth 
is  full  of  His  glory. 

Then  flew  one  of  the  seraphim  unto  me,  having  a  live  coal 
in  his  hand,  which  he  had  taken  with  the  tongs  from  off  the 
altar  :  And  he  touched  my  mouth  with  it,  and  said,  Lo,  this 
hath  touched  thy  lips  :  and  thine  iniquity  is  taken  away,  and 
thy  sin  purged. — Isaiah  vi.  2-3,  6-7. 

HERE  is  the  locus  classicus  of  the  Seraphim,  the 
single  mention  within  the  Canon  of  the  Scripture. 
It  is  suggestive  in  the  highest  degree,  and  without 
dwelling  on  the  immediate  circumstances  of  the 
vision,  we  may  go  on  at  once  to  follow  up  some 
among  the  various  trains  of  thought  that  open  out 
before  us  as  we  read. 

I 

'  With  twain  he  covered  his  face.' 

The  Seraphim  are  the  pattern  of  reverence.     It  is 


THE   SERAPHIM  m 

nothing  but  the  simplest  truth  to  say  that  the 
higher  a  being  is  in  the  scale  of  creation,  and  the 
loftier  the  character,  in  exact  proportion  is  the 
grace  of  reverence.  For  reverence  is  the  recogni 
tion  in  ever-advancing  clearness  of  the  true,  the 
noble,  and  the  greater  than  itself.  It  is  the  attitude 
of  the  artist  and  scientist,  in  their  various  gifts  and 
ways,  in  the  profounder  view  and  study  of  nature. 
And  reverence  at  its  highest  power  and  its  fullest 
expression— that  is,  as  it  contemplates  the  infinite- 
is  worship.  The  deeper  the  perception,  the  more 
intense  is  the  recognition.  We  touch  the  climax 
of  reverence  in  all  that  is  below  the  incarnate  life, 
as  we  watch  the  adoration  in  the  highest  courts  of 
heaven.  The  Seraphim  exhibit  thus  symbolically 
the  largest  capacity  for  the  realisation  of  God  that 
belongs  to  a  purely  creaturely  existence.  They 
reflect  His  glory  and  celebrate  in  antiphon  His 
praise. 

Yet  not  in  celestial  isolation.  They  '  by  their 
presence  and  actions  suggest  new  and  fuller  con 
ceptions  of  God's  ineffable  majesty.'  l 

1  The  heavens  are  not  too  high, 
His  praise  may  thither  fly. 
The  earth  is  not  too  low, 
His  praises  there  may  grow.' 2 

The  mission  of  the  Seraphim  to  men  is  at  every 

1  Dr.  Skinner.  2  George  Herbert. 


H2  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

point  before  us,  and  reverence,  Dr.  Liddon  told  us 
in  a  memorable  sermon,  '  is  not  one  of  the  most 
popular  virtues  at  the  present  day.'  ]  It  is  even 
less  so  at  this  later  date.  Things  have  travelled 
fast  in  the  generation  that  has  elapsed  since  1873. 
The  lack  of  reverence  is  at  once  a  most  painful 
feature  of  the  time,  and  the  source  of  manifold  ills. 
The  frankly  brutal,  or  the  cynically  polished,  repudia 
tion  of  ties  and  sanctions,  the  contempt  of  amenities 
and  institutions,  are  too  patent  to  escape  notice, 
and  too  ominous  for  our  disregard.  In  the  State  as 
in  the  Church,  in  the  social  life  as  by  the  hearth 
stone,  this  preservative  of  wholesome  living  is  con 
spicuous  by  its  absence.  And  the  lack  is  fatal.  It 
needs  must  spell  disaster.  Progress  is  no  advance 
without  it : 

'  Make  Knowledge  circle  with  the  winds, 
But  let  her  herald,  Reverence,  fly 
Before  her  to  whatever  sky, 
Bear  seed  of  men  and  growth  of  minds.' 2 

II 

8  With  twain  he  covered  his  feet.' 

It  is  the  mark  of  the  lowly  in  spirit.  His  feet 
are  covered  in  token  of  unworthiness.  If  Adam 
would  fain  conceal  himself,  thus  miserably  mistaken, 

and 

'  Vainly  shun  the  Presence  dread,' 3 

1  Easter,  ii.  107.  2  Tennyson,  In  Memoriam. 

3  Lyra  Innocentium. 


THE   SERAPHIM 

the  instinct  here  is  different  and  right.  For  closely 
allied  with  reverence  is  that  sense  of  imperfection 
that  is  expressed  by  the  gesture  of  concealment- 
nay,  it  is  an  integral  part  of  it.  Here  we  have  a 
paradox  of  the  spiritual  life,  as  with  Simon,  who  fell 
down  at  Jesus'  knees  and  cried,  '  Depart  from  me, 
for  I  am  a  sinful  man,  O  Lord,'  when  he  of  all  men 
was  the  first  to  own  that  without  Him  he  could  not 
live.  As  reverence,  we  have  been  told,  is  sincerity 
face  to  face  with  greatness  without  us,  so  humility 
is  sincerity  face  to  face  with  sin  and  demerit  within 
us.  It  is  an  a  fortiori  argument  from  the  unf alien 
Seraphim,  to  '  vile  earth  and  miserable  sinners.' 
In  this  respect  the  splendid  force  of  alike  the 
Evangelical  and  the  Oxford  movements  is  for  the 
moment  deplorably  arrested.  Each  was  a  school  of 
introspective  honesty.  William  Wilberforce  at  the 
close  of  his  glorious  career  seemed  to  himself  an 
'  unprofitable  servant.'  It  was  only  in  the  reflec 
tion,  '  we  serve  a  gracious  Master,  Who  will  take  the 
will  for  the  deed,'  that  he  found  comfort.  The 
many  who  have  read  the  closing  utterances  of  the 
saintly  Bishop  Hamilton  will  recall  their  note  of 
deepest  self-abasement.  A  lesson  needed  surely 
among  ourselves.  The  flippancy,  and  even  inso 
lence,  with  which  subjects  the  most  sacred  are 
handled  to-day  is  indicative  of  much  beyond  itself. 
Worthily  to  acknowledge  our  unworthiness  is  the 
first  and  the  last  step  in  '  a  journey,  difficult,  toil- 

i 


n4  A    BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

some,  perilous,  and  full  of  change.'  1     And  we  may 

truly  add, 

'  It  is  not  when  man's  heart  is  nighest  heaven 
He  hath  most  need  of  servant-Seraphim— 
Albeit  that  height  be  holy,  and  God  be  still. 
Nay,  but  much  rather  when  one,  flat  as  earth, 
Knows  not  which  way  to  grovel,  or  where  to  flee 
From  the  overmastering  agony  of  sin.' 2 

III 

1  With  twain  he  did  fly.' 

In  exact  proportion  with  reverence  and  humility 
we  have  spiritual  alertness  in  heavenly  places. 
Activity  is  but  another  name  for  growth,  and 
growth  is  alike  the  token  and  the  condition  of  life. 
There  are  solutions  in  the  hereafter  of  the  apparent 
contradictories  of  space  and  of  time.  'In  coelo 
quies  '  is  the  stay  of  the  weary  and  the  heavy  laden, 
and  yet  the  Seraphim  cease  not  day  or  night  (and, 
indeed,  '  there  is  no  night  there ')  their  unceasing 
song,  '  Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  is  the  Lord  of  hosts.' 

And  these  are  media  of  communication  between 
the  Heaven  of  heavens,  and  things  so '  toilsome  and 
incomplete ' 3  that  are  here  below.  Their  activity 
is  twofold.  It  is  the  movement  of  those  who 
dwell  before  the  Beatific  Vision,  the  ministerial 
energy  of  those  who  invite  '  us,  weak  worldlings,  on 

1  Church,  Dante.  2  Myers. 

*  Church,  Cathedral  Sermons,  218. 


THE   SERAPHIM  115 

our  way.'     The  Tersanctus  ceases  never,  but  '  the 
whole  earth,  also,  is  full  of  His  glory.' 

The  lesson  for  ourselves,  the  teaching  of  the 
Seraph's  flight,  is  not  hard  to  seek.  Activity 
manifold  is  writ  large  on  life  in  our  modern  world. 
Nor  is  there  wanting  in  its  ceaseless  movement  the 
element  of  multiplied,  unselfish  work.  The  in 
crease  in  enterprises  of  philanthropy,  at  any  rate, 
is  far  too  marked  for  the  denial  of  the  most  in 
veterate  cynic.  The  particular  prompting  of  the 
Seraphim  is  either  noted,  or  deficient,  according  as 
the  energy  of  helpfulness  has,  or  has  not,  true 
relation  with  God  as  its  point  of  departure.  This 
is  not  to  ignore  or  to  undervalue,  for  a  moment, 
ministries  of  mercy  that  are  thought  to  be  inde 
pendent  of  Divine  motive.  Happily  we  have  no 
experience  of  a  world  where  the  fruit  of  the  Cross  is 
unknown.  The  lessons  of  the  true  life  are  often 
times  practised  unconsciously,  and  in  this  sense, 
too,  men  *  know  not  what  they  do.' 

But  take  a  career,  the  ministerial  responsi 
bilities  of  which  are  unreservedly  recognised,  and 
which  proceeds  on  the  lines  of  the  revealed  Word. 
It  may  be  within  or  without  the  ordained  priest 
hood,  or  the  religious  vocation,  technically  so  called, 
but  there  is  no  mistaking  it.  Its  vital  power  is 
4  hid  with  Christ  in  God.'  The  personality  has  its 
sustenance,  its  force,  its  influence,  in  union  with 
the  One  Mediator.  It  contemplates,  and  in  the 


I  2 


n6  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

strength  of  that  it  has  seen  and  known,  it  works 
its  work  betimes. 

It  may  have,  it  probably  has,  fallen  to  the  lot 
of  most  of  us  to  watch  such  a  life  in  its  progress. 
We  have  seen  the  priest,  the  minister  of  the  Lord, 
in  his  continual  waiting  on  God,  instant  in  inter 
cession,    recollected   in   meditation,    supported   by 
the  Bread  of  Life,  passing  from  the  sanctuary  to 
the  squalor  and  misery  of  the  suffering  and  the 
lost,  content  to  pass  the  days  and  years  amid  con 
ditions  that  could  not  but  kill  down  all  hope  save 
what  '  springs  eternal '  from  a  Divine  Source.     We 
have  seen  the  disciple  of  the  Master  from  whose 
life  has  passed  away  in  turn  well-nigh  each  thing 
that  human  nature   counts    essential— health,  and 
means,  and  power  of  enjoyment— and  yet  whose 
invalid  couch  has  been  that  centre  in  the  house 
hold  to  which  all  in  turn  have  bent  their  steps,  the 
old  in  his  age,  the  young  in  their  youth,  secure  of 
sympathy,    of    being    understood.      The    sketches 
are  from  real  life,   and  yet  many  who  read  will 
think  they  can  identify  the  persons  meant.     For 
the  service  of  the  Seraphim  in  worship  and  in  work 
is  ceaselessly  perpetuated  here  upon  earth,  and  the 
lowest  responds  to,  and  is  one  with,  the  loftiest  in 
the   twofold   service   of   their   Lord.     It   is    'pure 
religious  service,   and  unpolluted  before  our  God 
and  Father.' 


THE   SERAPHIM  117 

IV 

And  this  brings  us  to  their  special  work.  Ex 
celling  in  love  themselves,  their  *  finished  love 
makes  perfect.' l  The  perfecting  of  the  saints  is 
the  function  of  the  Seraphim.  '  Having  a  live 
coal  .  .  .  which  he  had  taken  from  off  the  altar  .  .  . 
he  touched  my  mouth  with  it,  and  said,  Lo,  this 
hath  touched  thy  lips  ;  and  thine  iniquity  is  taken 
away,  and  thy  sin  purged.5 

The  gift  that  the  Seraphim  bring  is  twofold. 
It  is  first  the  atoning  efficacy  of  the  altar  that  is 
conveyed  to  the  prophet,  for  the  fire  is  sacrificial.2 
It  is  next  the  charisma  of  prophetic  inspiration. 

Fire  is  the  blessed  and  most  merciful  purifier. 
There  is  an  interpretation  of  the  words  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  '  Who  through  the  Eternal 
Spirit  offered  Himself  without  spot  to  God,'  to  the 
effect  that  '  the  anointing  of  that  Spirit  (Whose 
energy  is  the  "  Fire  of  Love ")  was  as  a  flame, 
amidst  which  He,  in  the  freedom  of  Filial  obedience, 
offered  Himself  up  to  God.' 3  And  for  ourselves 
the  first  necessity  of  the  better  life,  here  and  here 
after,  is  that  '  by  the  merits  and  death '  of  Him 
Who  made,  '  by  His  one  oblation  of  Himself  once 
offered,  a  full,  perfect,  and  sufficient  Sacrifice, 
oblation,  and  satisfaction,'  we  '  may  obtain  re- 

1  Dean  Colet.  *  Dr.  Skinner. 

3  Speaker's  Commentary  on  Heb.  ix.  14. 


n8  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

mission  of  our  sins,  and  all  other  benefits  of  His 
Passion.'  And  then  that  we  '  may  daily  increase 
in  the  Holy  Spirit  more  and  more  till  we  come  to 
God's  everlasting  Kingdom.'  It  is  thus  we  speak 
with  those  new  tongues  that  indicate  a  heart  trans 
formed,  it  is  thus  that  we  too  prophesy,  forth- 
telling  the  glory  of  God. 

The  Seraphim  are  as  '  a  flame  of  fire.'  Their 
ministry  to  men  is  a  ministry  of  love,  beginning  in 
it  and  having  it  by  the  Holy  Spirit  as  an  end. 

'  In  will  and  deed,  by  heart  and  tongue, 
With  all  our  powers  Thy  praise  be  sung, 
And  love  light  up  our  mortal  frame, 
Till  others  catch  the  living  flame.' 

'  Set  me  as  a  seal  upon  thine  heart  ...  for  love 
is  strong  as  death  ;  the  flashes  thereof  are  flashes  of 
fire,  a  very  flame  of  the  Lord.' l  It  was  a  great  rule 
laid  down  by  a  master  of  the  spiritual  life  in  our  own 
times  never  to  omit  day  by  day  to  pray  beyond  all 
else  for  '  that  most  excellent  gift  of  love.' 

Long  ago  Cardinal  Newman  taught  us  that  we 
*  begin  with  faith,  that  we  may  go  on  to  holiness.' 2 
We  may  add  to  it  the  saying  of  Canon  Liddon,  that 
we  begin  with  awe,  and  we  go  on  to  love.  It  is  the 
Christian  course  in  epitome. 

What  might  we  not  do  towards  mutual  per 
fection  if  we  were  followers  of  the  Seraphim !  We 

1  Canticles,  viii.  6.  *  Parochial  Sermons,  vi.  115. 


THE   SERAPHIM  119 

think  it  a  great  matter  if  we  refrain  from  casting  a 
stumbling-block  in  our  brother's  way.  So  much  of 
what  the  best  of  us  do  is  only  negative,  and  there 
is  all  the  wealth  of  positive  endeavour  unattempted. 
*  I  am  a  companion  of  all  them  that  fear  Thee,  and 
keep  Thy  commandments.'  It  were  well  if  we 
lived  far  more,  deliberately  and  consciously,  in  the 
society  of  the  invisible  world.  It  were  well  if  we 
recalled  each  time  that  we  '  went  into  the  Sanctuary 
of  God'  the  words  of  one  to  whom  reference  has 
already  more  than  once  been  made :  '  In  worship 
we  learn  the  manners  of  a  higher  sphere,  and  fit 
ourselves  for  companionship  with  saints  and  angels, 
and  for  the  everlasting  sight  of  the  Face  of  God.'  l 

1  With  His  seraph  train  before  Him, 

With  His  holy  Church  below, 
Thus  unite  we  to  adore  Him, 
Bid  we  thus  our  anthem  flow  : 

"  Lord,  Thy  glory  fills  the  Heaven  ; 
Earth  is  with  its  fulness  stored  ; 
Unto  Thee  be  glory  given, 
Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  Lord." 

J.  G.  T. 

1  Liddon,  University  Sermons,  vol.  ii.  p.  77. 


120  A  BOOK   OF   ANGELS 


WHEN  we  consider  what  glorious  beings  the  angels 
are,  and  yet  that  they  are  but  creatures  of,  and 
servants  to,  the  God  whom  we  serve,  waiting  before 
His  Throne,  and  humbly  attending  His  commands  ; 
this  consideration,  if  we  let  it  sink  deeply  into  our 
hearts,  must  needs  possess  us  with  most  awful 
apprehensions  of  the  glorious  majesty  of  our  God 
at  all  times,  but  especially  in  our  approaches  to 
Him  in  His  worship,  and  fill  us  with  the  greatest 
reverence  and  humility.  We  should  do  well  often 
to  call  to  mind  Daniel's  vision,  to  whom  was  repre 
sented  the  '  Ancient  of  days  sitting  upon  His  throne, 
a  thousand  thousand  ministering  unto  Him,  and 
ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand  standing  before 
Him.' l 

With  what  reverence  should  we  behave  ourselves 
in  our  addresses  to  the  Divine  Majesty,  before 
Whom  the  Seraphim  themselves  hide  their  faces! 
And  if  they  cover  their  feet,  are  conscious  to  them 
selves  of  their  natural  imperfection,  compared  to 
the  infinitely  glorious  God  ;  how  should  we  clods  of 
earth,  we  vile  sinners,  blush  and  be  ashamed  in 
His  presence,  assuming  no  confidence  to  ourselves, 
but  what  is  founded  on  the  mercies  of  God  and  the 
merits  of  our  blessed  Redeemer  and  Advocate, 
Jesus  Christ ! 

And  when  we  find  ourselves  inclined  to  pride  and 
vanity,  to  think  highly  of  ourselves  and  of  our 
services  to  God,  let  us  reflect  at  what  a  vast  distance 

1  Dan.  vii.  9,  10. 


THE   SERAPHIM  121 

we  come  behind  the  holy  angels  ;  how  far  short  our 
poor,  lame,  imperfect  services  are  of  their  holy 
and  excellent  ministry.  Yet,  when  we  think  of 
the  ministry  which  the  holy  angels  perform  towards 
God,  and  for  us ;  let  us  at  the  same  time  propound 
them  to  ourselves,  as  patterns  and  examples  for  our 
imitation. 

Although  in  this  state  of  mortality  we  shall 
never  reach  the  perfection  of  angels,  yet,  by  aspiring 
to  it,  we  shall  certainly  become  much  better  men  ; 
and  if  we  come  short  of  what  we  aim  at,  we  shall 
nevertheless  far  exceed  what  we  are.  As,  there 
fore,  we  hope  to  be  equal  to  the  angels  (in  a  blessed 
immortality)  hereafter,  so  let  us  study  to  be  like 
them  (in  holiness  and  righteousness)  now.  Let  us 
emulate  their  exalted  love,  the  source  and  fountain 
of  all  the  excellent  services  they  perform  to  their 
Creator,  '  by  loving  the  Lord  our  God  with  all  our 
heart,  and  with  all  our  soul,  and  with  all  our  mind, 
and  with  all  our  strength.' l  We  have  one  reason  to 
love  God  which  the  angels  have  not,  and  that  is,  the  for 
giveness  of  many  and  great  sins  :  the  most  endearing 
obligation.  And  as  they  continually  laud  and  praise 
the  great  and  good  God,  and  Lord  of  all  things,  so 
let  us  pay  the  daily  tribute  of  our  praise  and  thanks 
giving  to  Him,  according  to  our  utmost  powers  in 
this  state  of  infirmity.  And  when  we  consider 
their  fervent  love  and  charity  to  us,  in  their  earnest 
desire  and  study  of  our  good  and  welfare,  and  in 
their  most  ready  diligence  to  do  all  good  offices  for 
us ;  let  us  then  remember,  how  much  more  we  are 

1  St.  Mark  xii.  33. 


122  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

obliged  to  love  and  assist  one  another,  who  have 
the  same  common  nature,  passions,  and  infirmities, 
and  therefore  stand  in  mutual  need  of  each  other  ; 
whereas  the  holy  angels  are  above  any  benefit  or 
advantage,  which  even  the  best  of  us  can  contri 
bute  to  them.  Let  us  admire  their  condescension, 
in  that  they,  being  creatures  so  glorious,  should  so 
willingly  stoop  and  humble  themselves  to  minister 
to  us  sinful  dust  and  ashes  ;  and  let  us  from  hence 
learn  the  excellent  lesson,  *  By  love  to  serve  one 
another,'  when  charity  requires  it,  not  to  disdain 
or  refuse  any  good  office  we  can  do  our  neighbour, 
though  it  be  otherwise  servile,  and  seemingly 
beneath  our  dignity. 

Thus  the  holy  angels  are  our  patterns. 

Bishop  Bull  (1634-1710). 


BLEND  our  musics  into  one  ! 

The  sanctities  and  sanctified  above 

Shall  each  to  each,  with  lifted  looks  serene, 

Their  shining  faces  lean, 

And  mix  th'  adoring  breath, 

And  breathe  the  sweet  thanksgiving. 

E.  B.   Browning:    '  The  Seraphim.' 


CHAPTER  VI 
ZTbe  Cbetubim 

Cherubim  and  Seraphim 

Their  bonds  of  love  thus  swiftly  they  pursue, 
Their  power  proportioned  to  their  lofty  view. 


DANTE. 


ZTbe  Cbetubfm 

THE  Cherubim,  usually  classed  by  Christian  teachers 
as  belonging  to  the  second  rank  of  the  celestial 
hierarchy,  are  thought  of  as  pre-eminent  in  the  gift 
of  knowledge.  As  the  Seraphim,  loving  God  with 
a  perfect  love,  know  Him  perfectly  ;  so  the  Cheru 
bim,  knowing  Him  perfectly,  therefore  love  Him 
with  a  perfect  love. 

There  are  in  the  sacred  Scriptures  five  chief 
allusions  to  the  Cherubim,  some  very  brief,  others 
more  in  detail,  to  guide  us  when  thinking  on  the 
Orders  of  Angels,  and  desiring  to  learn  some  lessons 
of  a  practical  nature. 

I — THE  SENTINELS  OF  PARADISE 

He  placed  at  the  east  of  the  garden  of  Eden  the  Cherubim, 
and  the  flame  of  a  sword  which  turned  every  way,  to  keep  the 
way  of  the  tree  of  life. — Gen.  iii.  24. 

Thus,  in  judgment,  but  also  in  mercy,  these, 
who  knew  what  God  is,  guarded  the  precincts  of 
His  manifested  Presence,  keeping  them  from  pro 
fanation  on  the  part  of  sinful  man,  and  man  him- 


126  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

self  from  the  extreme  danger  of  an  approach,  un 
prepared  by  atonement,  to  his  insulted  God. 

For  the  judgments  of  God  are  not  the  product  of 
vindictive  anger ;  they  have  their  motive  in  His 
infinite  love.  His  severity  is  only  His  goodness, 
manifested  in  another  manner.  Now  that  man 
had  learned  by  fatal  experiment  the  knowledge  of 
evil,  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  life  would  have  been 
poison  to  him.  In  God  is  the  fountain  of  life,  but 
to  come  near  to  Him  in  a  nature  saturated  by  sin 
would  be  inevitable  death.  Therefore  is  Paradise 
closed  to  the  unforgiven  sinner,  and  the  Cherubim, 
embodiments  of  created  wisdom,  wisely  keep  the 
way  of  the  tree  of  life.  Their  message  for  awhile 
to  sinful  man  is  '  Depart '  ;  but  when  the  mystery 
of  God's  love  in  man's  restoration  is  finished,  the 
Seer  of  Patmos  shall  hear  the  voice  of  one  and 
other  of  the  Cherubim,  and  their  word  shall  be 
1  Come.' 

The  ancient  disciplinary  system  of  the  Christian 
Church  was  grounded  on  the  principle  of  the 
Cherubim.  Impenitent  and  half-penitent  sinners, 
known  by  their  deeds  to  be  such,  or  not  as  yet 
having  given  evidence  of  their  repentance,  were 
excluded  for  long  terms  from  approaching  the  tree 
of  life,  the  life-giving  mysteries  of  the  Eucharist, 
and  this  in  mercy,  lest  they  should  be,  not  healed, 
but  hurt,  by  unworthy  communion.  That  system 
has  long  ago,  and  in  all  parts  of  the  Catholic  Church, 


THE   CHERUBIM 


127 


broken  down.  For  good  men,  though  holding 
high  office  as  bishops  and  priests  in  the  hierarchy  of 
the  Church,  have  not  the  knowledge  or  the  wisdom 
of  the  Cherubim,  and  have  often  made  fatal  mistakes 
in  attempts  to  wield  the  flaming  sword.  Still,  the 
Church  holds  the  power  of  excommunication,  how 
ever  seldom  it  can  be  used  with  good  effect.  As  it 
is,  the  wilfully  sinful  are  apt  to  excommunicate 
themselves  rather  than  to  be  excommunicated. 
And  the  general  absence  of  external  discipline 
may,  under  providential  guidance,  tend  to  more 
thorough  self-discipline,  of  which  St.  Paul  says  that 
4  if  we  would  judge  ourselves,  we  should  not  be 
judged.'  Only  we  would  have  those  who,  though 
nominally  Christians,  refuse  themselves  the  central 
privilege  of  Christians,  bear  in  mind  that  permanent 
and  wilful  self-exclusion  from  participation  of  the 
sacramental  tree  of  life  on  earth  may  lead,  ipso 
facto,  to  exclusion  from  '  the  tree  of  life  which  is  in 
the  midst  of  the  Paradise  of  God  '  in  heaven. 

For  God  will  not  exclude  from  heaven  and  its 
eternal  life  any  who  are  prepared  for  it ;  yet  He  must 
exclude  the  unprepared.  And  this,  not  in  judg 
ment  only,  but  in  mercy.  It  would  be  no  happiness 
to  the  unrepentant  and  unforgiven  soul  to  find 
itself  in  heaven.  Heaven  would  itself  be  hell  to 
it ;  and  the  flaming  sword  of  the  Cherubim  which 
shall  exclude  at  the  Great  Day  will  itself  be  wielded 
in  pity  to  the  poor  lost  ones. 


128  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

II — THE  ATTENDANTS  AT  THE  MERCY-SEAT 

And  he  made  two  cherubim  of  gold  ;  of  beaten  work  made 
he  them,  at  the  two  ends  of  the  mercy-seat.  .  .  .  And  the 
cherubim  spread  out  their  wings  on  high,  covering  the  mercy- 
seat  with  their  wings,  with  their  faces  one  to  another,  toward 
the  mercy-seat  were  the  faces  of  the  cherubim. — Exodus  xxxvii. 
7,  9- 

These  were  but  visible  symbols  ;  but,  like  the 
other  ritual  accessories  of  the  tabernacle  worship, 
they  were  visible  symbols  of  realities,  invisible  to 
men.  When  the  Shechinah,  the  glory-cloud  of 
the  Divine  Presence,  descended,  God  '  dwelt  between 
the  Cherubim '  in  a  mystery  ;  and  His  sentinels  at 
the  gate  of  Paradise  were  represented  as  attending 
upon  Him  still.  Now,  not  wholly  to  exclude,  nor 
fully  to  invite,  human  approach  to  the  Holy  of 
Holies.  That  approach  was  still  guarded  by  most 
stringent  conditions.  Only  once  in  each  year 
might  even  the  high  priest  come  close  up  to  the 
manifested  Presence,  and  then  only  as  the  type 
and  promise  of  the  true  Mediator  of  the  coming 
dispensation,  and  only  with  the  blood  of  sprinkling, 
as  evidence  of  the  typical  sacrifice  which  gave 
promise  of  the  real  and  perfect  sacrifice  of  Calvary. 

But  there  were  the  forms,  gleaming  with 
golden  wings,  their  faces  turned  downwards  towards 
the  place  of  the  veiled  Presence  and  of  the  blood  of 
Atonement,  as  long  after  angels  should  bend  down 
wards  to  the  veiled  Presence  on  the  altar-throne  of 


THE   CHERUBIM  129 

the  Cross,  *  desiring  to  look  into  '  the  depths  of 
that  Mystery  of  self-sacrificing  Love  of  which 
neither  angels  nor  men  can  ever  tell  the  length  and 
breadth  and  depth  and  height. 

And  surely  not  until  the  Cherubim  had  seen  that 
sight  on  the  first  Good  Friday  did  they,  who  are 
the  embodiment  of  created  knowledge,  know  the 
love  of  God — how  low  the  high  and  lofty  One  that 
inhabiteth  eternity  would,  for  His  infinite  love, 
stoop  to  win  and  cleanse  and  raise  His  erring  child. 

Men  call  God  '  unknowable,'  and  are  content 
not  to  know  Him.  Yet  known  He  may  be, 
and  is,  to  every  one  who  in  any  real  sense  looks 
into  the  Mystery  of  the  Cross,  and  believes  that 
God  so  loved  the  world.  The  Cross  is  the  one 
unanswerable  proof  of  Divine  Love,  silencing  for 
ever  the  voices  of  doubt  whether  we  are  cared  for 
by  Him.  It  is  the  final  pledge  that  nothing  shall 
be  wanting  on  His  part  to  bring  us  safe  to  the 
promised  land  and  to  His  holy  hill  of  Sion.  4  He 
that  spared  not  His  own  Son,  but  delivered  Him 
up  for  us  all,  how  shall  He  not  with  Him  also  freely 
give  us  all  things  ?  ' 


K 


130  A  BOOK   OF   ANGELS 


III — THE  STANDARDS  OF  THE  ARMY 

The  children  of  Israel  shall  pitch  every  man  by  his  own 
standard.  .  .  .  Over  against  the  tent  of  meeting  shall  they 
pitch  round  about.  And  those  that  shall  pitch  on  the  east 
side  shall  be  they  of  the  standard  of  the  camp  of  Judah,  &c.  &c. 
Numbers  ii.  2,  3  &c. 

The  Israelites,  on  their  way  to  Canaan,  journeyed 
in  four  great  divisions  consisting  each  of  three 
tribes.  At  the  head  of  each  division  was  carried 
one  of  the  four  great  banners  which  bore  the 
ensigns  of  the  four  leading  tribes.  When  a  halt 
was  made  the  tabernacle  was  pitched  in  the  centre 
of  the  camp,  and  the  four  divisions  were  ranged 
on  each  of  its  four  sides.  The  four  banners  appear 
to  have  been  erected,  each  of  them  at  the  head  of 
the  division  to  which  it  belonged,  between  its  three 
tribes  and  the  tabernacle.  It  would  seem  that  the 
devices  on  the  banners  were  no  other  than  the 
forms  of  the  Cherubim  as  seen  afterwards  in  the 
visions  of  Ezekiel  and  of  St.  John— the  Lion,  the 
Ox,  the  Man,  and  the  Eagle.  The  banners  with 
these  devices  faced  the  tabernacle  on  its  four  sides, 
and,  as  it  were,  did  honour  to  the  Presence  mani 
fested  in  the  Shechinah. 

That  Presence  was  the  type  and  forecast  of  the 
Incarnation,  when  '  the  Word  became  flesh  and 
tabernacled  among  us,  and  we  behold  His  glory.' 
The  banners  of  the  host,  bearing  the  emblems  of 


THE   CHERUBIM  131 

the  Cherubim,  gave  prophetic  witness,  as  should 
the  evangelists,  '  the  ministers  of  the  Word,'  to  the 
fourfold  aspect  of  the  Incarnate  as  the  Messianic 
King,  the  sacrificial  Victim,  the  Ideal  Man,  the 
very  God. 

The  Church,  journeying  on  to  her  promised 
inheritance,  bears  aloft  the  banners  of  her  King— 
Vexitta  Regis.  Only  as  she  bears  faithful  witness 
to  His  Kingship,  His  Atonement,  His  true  Manhood, 
His  perfect  Godhead,  can  she  be  victorious  over  the 
forces  of  evil.  His  worship  must  embody  her 
faith  in  these  foundation  truths.  Accordingly  she 
recites  the  great  Creed  of  universal  Christendom  in 
the  Liturgy,  when  about  to  invite  the  mystical 
Presence  of  Emmanuel  in  her  midst.  It  is  with 
her  as  when,  after  each  stage  of  the  journey  in  the 
wilderness,  the  tabernacle  was  set  up  in  the  midst, 
the  sacred  standards  ranged  around  it,  and  the 
chant  arose,  'Return,  O  Lord,  unto  the  many 
thousands  of  Israel.' 

IV — THE  CHARIOT  OF  THE  CHERUBIM 

This  likeness  of  four  living  creatures. — Ezekiel  i.  5. 

[See  also  i.  6-28  ;  ii,  13  ;  x.  i,  &c.  ;  xi.  22,  23  ;  xliii.  i,  &c.l 

And  I  knew  that  they  were  the  cherubim. x.  20. 

He  rode  on  a  cherub  and  did  fly._ps.  xviii.  10. 

Ezekiel,  the  captive  priest,  saw  l  visions  of  God  ' 
by  the  river  Chebar.  He  described  them  in  language 
very  difficult  to  understand,  and  .nothing  more 


K  2 


I32  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

than  a  brief  reference  to  their  chief  features  shall 
be  here  attempted. 

He  sees  the  glory-cloud  of  the  Shechinah — '  the 
appearance  of  the  likeness  of  the  glory  of  the 
Lord ' — surrounded  and  in  some  sense  supported  by 
angelic  forms.  To  him  as  a  priest  these  naturally 
take  the  shape  of  the  figures  of  the  Cherubim  em 
broidered  on  the  temple  veils,1  and  carved  on  the 
temple  walls.2  There  are  four  '  living  creatures,' 
who,  joined  together,  and  with  '  whirling  wheels  ' 
beside  them  on  each  side  of  a  square,  form  a  chariot 
upon  which  the  glory-cloud  is  borne.  There  are 
four  faces  visible — the  same  apparently  as  of  the 
ancient  devices  on  the  standards  of  the  host  in  the 
wilderness — the  man,  the  lion,  the  ox,  and  the 
eagle.  Whether  each  cherubic  form  had  these 
four  faces,  or  each  bore  one,  is  doubtful ;  to  the 
present  writer  the  latter  seems  more  probable. 
Each  had  four  wings  and  two  hands,  and  all 
moved  together  and  rose  together,  the  sound  of 
their  flying  like  the  music  '  of  great  waters,  like 
the  Voice  of  the  Almighty.' 

This  brilliant  vision  appears  several  times  to 
the  prophet-priest — at  first  coming  to  him  in  his 
exile,  as  though  to  teach  how  near  the  Divine 
Presence  is,  however  we  may  be  debarred  from  the 
usual  and  covenanted  means  of  access  to  it.  Then 
he  is  transported  in  spirit  to  Jerusalem,  and  he 
1  2  Chron.  iii.  14.  2  2  Chron.  iii.  7. 


THE   CHERUBIM  133 

sees  the  glory-cloud,  borne  up  by  the  chariot  of  the 
Cherubim,  depart  from  the  polluted  temple,  and 
hover  near  to  the  once  holy  city,  as  though  yearning 
to  return  on  the  repentance  of  the  disobedient 
nation.  Then,  later  on,  when  the  glories  of  the 
final  Restoration  are  portrayed  in  an  ideal  temple, 
the  glory  comes  back,  *  the  earth  shines  with  the 
glory,'  and  '  it  fills  the  house,'  and  '  the  name  of  the 
city  from  that  day  shall  be  THE  LORD  is  THERE.' 

Among  much  that  is  obscure,  the  connection 
with  the  use  of  the  cherubic  forms  on  the  standards 
surrounding  the  Tabernacle  of  the  Presence  is 
obvious.  The  true  Cherubim  are  among  the  hosts 
of  angels  who,  as  they  surround  the  Throne  of  the 
Almighty  in  heaven,  so  attend  on  Him  in  all  the 
manifestations  of  His  covenant  Presence  on  earth. 
They  are  our  fellow- worshippers,  aiding  with  their 
perfect  worship  our  imperfect  homage,  and  making 
music  of  our  unworthy  attempts  at  song.  St.  John 
Chrysostom's  story  of  the  old  man  who  told  of 
angel  forms  bending  in  lowly  reverence  around  the 
Eucharistic  Altar  is  entirely  credible.  If  our  eyes 
were  opened  to  the  spiritual  realities,  we  should 
see  them  too. 

A  yet  more  solemn  thought  may  well  be  cherished. 
The  Cherubim  of  Ezekiel's  vision  were  the  chariot 
of  the  Divine  Presence,  and  at  the  Divine  bidding 
'  turned  not,  but  went  straight  forward  when  they 
went."  We,  to  whom  the  Divine  Christ  imparts 


134  A  BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

Himself,  bear  Him  with  us  into  our  common  life. 
Let  us  see  to  it  that  we  too  go  straight  forward  to 
do  His  bidding,  turning  not  aside  from  the  path  of 
duty  to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left. 


V — THE  LIVING  CREATURES  OF  THE  APOCALYPSE 

In  the  midst  of  the  throne,  and  round  about  the  throne, 
four  living  creatures. — Rev.  iv.  6  &c. 

The  cherubic  forms  of  the  standards  of  Israel 
and  of  Ezekiel's  visions  appear  again  in  the  sublime 
visions  of  the  exiled  Apostle.  To  him  too  the  veil  is 
lifted,  and  he  sees  in  gorgeous  imagery  the  realities, 
present  and  future,  of  the  spiritual  universe.  As 
around  and  within  the  tabernacle  and  the  temple 
of  old,  and  as  in  the  visions  of  Ezekiel,  '  in  the  midst 
of  the  throne  '  of  God  Almighty,  '  and  round  about 
the  throne,'  he  sees  the  same  four  living  creatures, 
the  innermost  of  the  concentric  circles  of  wor 
shippers  whose  outer  fringe  embraces  all  rational 
creation.  But  now  they  have  six  wings  like  the 
Seraphim,  and  they  sing  the  seraphic  song  of 
*  Holy,  Holy,  Holy,'  unresting  day  and  night  per 
petually.  Their  mission  now  is  not  to  warn  sinners 
from  too  near  an  approach  to  the  Source  of  life  and 
holiness.  Each  in  turn  speaks  the  solemn  invita 
tion  '  Come.'  Once,  indeed,  the  ministry  of  chas 
tisement  is  entrusted  to  one  of  their  number,1  as 
1  Rev.  xv.  7. 


THE   CHERUBIM  135 

though  to  impress  the  truth  that  Infinite  Love 
persistently  refused  must  inevitably  bring  bitterest 
anguish  on  those  who  refuse  it.  But  it  is  their 
word  of  welcome  which  lingers  last  in  the  mind  of 
the  seer :  '  The  Spirit  and  the  Bride  say  Come  ; 
and  let  him  that  heareth  say  Come;  and  let  him 
that  is  athirst  come,  and  take  of  the  water  of  life 
freely.' 

That  water  of  life  proceeds  eternally  from  the 
throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb.  To  the  glories 
of  the  Lamb  they  bear  their  fourfold  witness  : 

1  As  in  the  prophet's  vision, 

From  out  the  amber  flame 
In  form  of  visage  diverse 

Four  living  creatures  came  : 
Lo,  these  the  winged  chariots 

That  bring  Emmanuel  nigh, 
The  golden  staves,  uplifting 

The  Ark  of  God  on  high.' l 

It  can  hardly  be  that  St.  John  saw  in  these 
forms  emblems  of  the  four  Evangelists  them 
selves,  of  whom  he  was  one.  Rather,  it  has  been 
providentially  ordered  that  the  Gospel  as  narrated 
by  the  four  does  wonderfully  correspond  in  the 
several  accounts  to  such  fourfold  portraiture  as  is 
suggested  by  the  cherubic  forms,  which  respectively 
tell  of  the  universal  Royalty,  the  atoning  Sacrifice, 

1  Hymns  A.  &  M.  197,  New  Edition. 


136  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

the  true  Humanity,  and  the  supreme  Godhead  of 
Him  that  sits  upon  the  Throne— the  Alpha  and  the 
Omega,  the  Beginning  and  the  Ending,  the  First 
and  the  Last,  Emmanuel. 

The  Cherubim,  that  once  kept  the  way  of  the 
tree  of  life  when  Paradise  was  lost,  now  preach  Him 
Who  is  the  Way  to  Paradise  regained,  the  Truth  and 
the  Life.  '  For  this  is  life  eternal,  to  know  the  only 
true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  Whom  He  hath  sent.' 
For  '  this  is  the  true  God  and  eternal  life.' 

To   the   song   of   all   loyal   creaturely   life   the 
Cherubim  of  the  Apocalypse  add  their  response  : 
{  The  four  living  creatures  said  Amen.' 

They  know,  and  therefore  they  love.  We 
know  enough  to  love  Him  Who  has  so  loved  us. 
Let  lives  of  loyal  love  be  our  responsive  Amen. 

E.  E.  D. 


To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  give  to  eat  of  the  tree  of  life, 
which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  paradise  of  God. — Rev.  ii.  7. 

THEREBY  reversing  Adam's  doom :  '  The  Lord  God 
said  .  .  .  now  lest  he  put  forth  his  hand,  and 
take  also  of  the  tree  of  life,  and  eat,  and  live 
for  ever :  Therefore  the  Lord  God  sent  Him  forth 
from  the  garden  of  Eden  .  .  .  and  He  placed  at 
the  east  of  the  garden  of  Eden  Cherubim,  and  a 
flaming  sword  which  turned  every  way,  to  keep 
the  way  of  the  tree  of  life.' 


THE   CHERUBIM  137 

Thus  the  eastern  gate,  the  gate  of  light,  shut 
out  man  into  darkness  ;  immortal  Cherubim  barred 
him  from  the  precincts  of  life  ;  flame  repelled  him 
into  the  cold  of  death  ;  until  the  times  of  refreshing 
should  come  from  the  Lord,  and  to  Christ's  brethren 
every  loss  should  be  made  up,  yea,  and  much  more 
also. 

Christ  is  our  Tree  of  Life  .  .  .  even  now  whilst, 
please  God,  we  are  overcoming,  though  we  have 
not  yet  overcome.  .  .  .  He,  '  the  Branch,'  foretold 
by  prophets,  He  '  the  True  Vine,'  revealed  by  His 
own  lips,  He  now  is  mankind's  centre  to  which 
turn  eyes  and  hearts.  Long  ago  the  Tree  of  Life 
so  stood  in  the  midst  of  Eden,  and  so  in  vision  St. 
John  beheld  it  stand  in  the  midst  of  the  street  of 
Holy  New  Jerusalem.1 

If  we  could  forget  the  Vine's  sweetness,  can  we 
forget  how  it  left  its  sweetness  to  become  our 
King  ?  If  we  could  forget  the  Tree  of  Life,  can  we 
forget  that  tree  of  death  whereon  Christ  hung  that 
so  He  might  be  indeed  our  life  ? 

O  our  Saviour,  grant  us  grace  to  love  Thee  in 
and  above  all  Thy  gifts,  and  to  love  Thy  gifts 
because  of  Thee. 

'  The  Paradise  of  God '  :  were  it  not  '  of  God ' 
it  would  not  be  Paradise.  '  In  my  Father's  house 
are  many  mansions  :  if  it  were  not  so,  I  would  have 
told  you.  I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you,  and  if 
I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for  you,  I  will  come  again, 
and  receive  you  unto  Myself ;  that  where  I  am, 
there  ye  may  be  also.' 

1  Rev.  xxii.  2. 


138  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

Paradise  is  God's  by  right,  man's  by  grace.  In 
its  midst  Christ,  Very  God  and  Very  Man,  stands 
symbolised  by  the  Tree  of  Life. 

Christina  Rossetti  (1830-1894). 


SERVICE  and  strength,  God's  Angels  and  Archangels ; 

His  Seraphs  fires,  and  lamps  His  Cherubim  : 
Glory  to  God  from  highest  and  from  lowest, 

Glory  to  God  in  everlasting  hymn 
From  all  His  creatures. 

Princes   that    serve,    and    Powers    that   work   His 

pleasure, 

Heights  that  soar  to'ards  Him, 
Depths  that  sink  to'ards  Him  ; 
Flames  fire  out-flaming,  chill  beside  His  Essence  ; 
Insight  all-probing,  save  where  scant  and  dim 
To'ard  its  Creator. 

Sacred  and  free  exultant  in  God's  pleasure, 
His  Will  their  solace,  thus  they  wait  on  Him  ; 

And  shout  their  shout  of  ecstasy  eternal, 

And  trim  their  splendours  that  they  burn  not  dim 
To'ard  their  Creator. 

Wherefore  with  Angels,  wherefore  with  Archangels, 

With  lofty  Cherubs,  loftier  Seraphim, 
We  laud  and  magnify  our  God  Almighty, 
And  veil  our  faces,  rendering  love  to  Him 
With  all  His  creatures. 

Christina  Rossetti. 


CHAPTER  VII 

Bngels  roun&  tbe  Ubrone  fn  Motsbtp  anb 
praise 

From  choir  to  choir  I  heard  Hosanna  swell 

Towards  the  fixed  Point,  which  keeps  them  steadfast  there 

Where  they  have  been,  and  shall  for  ever  dwell. 

DANTE. 

Wondrous  beings,  who,  ere  the  worlds  were  made, 
Millions  of  ages  back,  have  stood  around 
The  Throne  of  God. 

J.  H.  NEWMAN. 


o    g 

<  I 


II 


rounfc  tbe  TTbrone  tn  TKHorsbfp  an& 
praise 


Et  ideo  cum  Angelis  et  Archangelis,  cum  Thronis  et  Domi- 
nationibus,  cumque  omni  militia  coelestis  exercitus,  hjonnum 
gloriae  Tuae  canimus,  sine  fine  dicentes,  Sanctus,  Sanctus, 
Sanctus,  Dominus  Deus  Sabaoth,  pleni  sunt  coeli  et  terra  gloria 
Tua ;  Osanna  in  excelsis  ;  Benedictus  Qui  venit  in  nomine 
Domini ;  Osanna  in  excelsis. — Sarum  Missal. 


THE  prophet  Isaiah  saw  the  glory  of  God  and  the 
worship  of  Angels  about  the  Throne  of  Heaven. 
The  earthly  setting  of  this  sublime  vision  was  the 
Temple  at  Jerusalem,  thereby  foreshadowing  the 
truth  that  the  temples  of  the  New  Covenant,  from 
the  most  glorious  cathedrals  of  Christendom  to  its 
simplest  '  Upper  Rooms '  and  mission  Chapels,  were 
destined  to  be  the  scenes  of  worship  by  angels  and 
men  of  the  Eucharistic  Presence  of  '  the  Lamb  as  it 
had  been  slain '  ;  a  worship  transcending  the 
'  Ter-Sanctus '  of  the  Old  Covenant,  which  fore 
shadowed  the  consummation  of  the  mystery  of 
redeeming  Love ;  inasmuch  as  the  '  Ter-Sanctus  '  of 
the  New  Covenant,  revealed  to  St.  John  at  Patmos, 
set  forth  the  union  of  the  worship  of  Heaven  and 


142  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

earth  in  the  fullness  of  the  Divine  Glory  of  an 
accomplished  Redemption. 

Isaiah  saw  'the  Lord,  sitting  upon  a  Throne, 
high  and  lifted  up,  and  His  train  filled  the  temple.' 
'  Above  it  stood  the  Seraphim,'  the  angels  of  burning 
love,  and  fervent  zeal ;  '  each  one  had  six  wings ' ; 
*  with  twain  he  covered  his  face,'  with  that  humility 
wherewith  the  angels  veil  their  faces  before  the 
white  light  of  Infinite  Holiness  and  Purity;  'with 
twain  he  covered  his  feet,'  in  the  conscious  mystery 
of  obedient  service  ;  '  with  twain  he  did  fly,'  with 
the  swift  might  of  intelligent  power,  derived  from 
the  Lord  of  all  Power  and  Might.  '  And  one  cried 
to  another,  and  said,  Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  is  the  Lord 
of  hosts,  the  whole  earth  is  full  of  His  glory.  .  .  . ' 
The  vision  of  the  Divine  Majesty  filled  Isaiah's 
soul  with  the  consciousness  of  his  own  sinful 
humanity.  '  Woe  is  me !  for  I  am  undone  ;  because 
I  am  a  man  of  unclean  lips,  and  I  dwell  in  the 
midst  of  a  people  of  unclean  lips:  for  mine  eyes 
have  seen  the  King,  the  Lord  of  hosts.  Then  flew 
one  of  the  Seraphim  unto  me,  having  a  live  coal  in 
his  hand,  which  he  had  taken  with  the  tongs  from 
off  the  altar :  And  he  laid  it  upon  my  mouth,  and 
said,  Lo,  this  hath  touched  thy  lips  ;  and  thine 
iniquity  is  taken  away,  and  thy  sin  is  purged.'  1 

We  see  here  the  Seraph,  as  the  Angel  of  worship, 
linking  fallen  humanity  to  the  heavenly  Altar,  so 

1  Isaiah  vi.  1-7. 


ANGELS   ROUND   THE    THRONE       143 

that  Isaiah  might  be  able  to  join  the  Worship  of 
Heaven,  and  become  a  fitting  messenger  for  the  Lord 
of  hosts.     But  what  means  were  employed  by  this 
ministering  angel  of  worship  ?     Do  we  not  see  in 
the  c  live  coal '  from  the  altar,  a  foreshadowing  of 
the  Mystery  of  Redemption  ?     The  heavenly  Altar 
is  the  scene  of  the  perpetual  pleading  of  the  One 
Sacrifice  of  the  Lamb,  slain  before  the  foundation  of 
the  world.     The  Eucharistic  mystery  of  worship, 
sacrifice,  and  communion  is  here  prophetically  set 
before  us.     The  '  live  coal '  from  the  altar  manifests 
the  Objective  Reality  of  the  Divine  Presence.     It  is 
quickened  by  the  Spirit ;  it  is  '  alive,'  though  the 
'  form '  of  the  coal  be  there.     The  Body  and  Blood 
of  our  Blessed  Lord  are  verily  and  indeed  present 
on  the  Altars  of  the  Catholic  Church  '  militant  here 
on  earth ' '  under  the  form  of  Bread  and  Wine,'  even 
as  they  are  upon  the  altar  of  heaven.     The  ministry 
of  the  Seraph,  and  the  imagery  of  the  '  live  coal,' 
shew  us  that  the  Altar  of  heaven  and  the  Altars 
of  earth  are  one  in  the  dignity  and  mystery  of  the 
Sacrament    of  our    Redemption.       The    angels   of 
heavenly  Worship  not  only  unite  with  us  in  the 
Eucharistic  '  Ter-Sanctus,'  but  are  guardians,  wit 
nesses,  and  ministers  of  our  praise,  our  prayers,  and 
our  worship,  as  we  celebrate  the  Holy  Mysteries  on 
our  altars. 

We  turn  now  to  Ezekiel's  vision  of  the  Cherubim, 
the  four  '  Living  Creatures '  that  encompassed  the 


144  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

Throne  of  the  Most  High.  The  mystical  descrip 
tion  of  the  Cherubim  in  the  first  chapter  of  Ezekiel 
cannot  be  reduced  to  any  definite  conception  of 
their  appearance.  Ezekiel  was  highly  favoured  of 
God  ;  but,  like  Isaiah,  he  was  compassed  with  the 
infirmities  of  fallen  humanity.  We  need  not  con 
ceive  that  Ezekiel's  description  of  the  Cherubim 
was  a  piece  of  symbolism,  set  forth  for  us  to  inter 
pret.  Its  very  obscurity  and  difficulty  rather 
point  to  the  fact  that  mortal  eyes,  even  when 
illumined  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  could  not  convey 
definite  impressions  of  the  glories  surrounding  the 
Throne  of  God.  The  most  that  Ezekiel  could  do 
was  to  record  in  the  language  of  earth,  so  far  forth 
as  was  possible  to  him,  the  mysteries  of  Heaven. 
The  Cherubim  appeared  as  the  immediate  ministers 
of  the  Throne  of  God.  '  They  turned  not  when 
they  went ;  they  went  every  one  straight  forward,' 
to  execute  the  Will  of  God.  They  '  ran  and  re 
turned  as  the  appearance  of  a  flash  of  lightning,' 
swift  to  obey  the  Divine  Commands.  Thus  much 
we  can  realise  amidst  the  mystery  of  their  '  faces,' 
their  '  wings,'  and  their  *  wheels.'  They  ministered 
to  the  central  majesty  of  the  Throne  of  Ezekiel's 
vision — the  Throne  of  God  Incarnate.  '  Upon  the 
throne  was  the  likeness  as  the  appearance  of  a  Man 
above  upon  it.  .  .  .  This  was  the  appearance  of  the 
likeness  of  the  Glory  of  the  Lord.  And  when  I  saw  it, 


ANGELS   ROUND   THE   THRONE        145 

I  fell  upon  my  face,  and  I  heard  a  voice  of  one  that 
spake.'  : 

These  visions  of  the  Angels  of  Worship,  revealed 
to  Isaiah  and  Ezekiel,  express  one  most  important 
truth.  They  teach  us  how  clearly  the  subconscious 
idea  of  the  Incarnation  was  impressed  upon  the 
minds  of  God's  saints  under  the  Old  Covenant,  and 
thus  indirectly  witness  to  the  truth  that  the  Incar 
nation  was  not  an  afterthought  of  God,  caused  by 
the  Fall  of  Man,  but  was  eternally  present  to  the 
Divine  Will  and  Purpose,  before  the  creation  of 
angels  and  men— things  '  visible  and  invisible.' 
This  prepares  us  for  the  continuation  and  expansion 
of  the  Old  Testament  visions  of  the  Angels  of 
worship  in  the  New  Testament.  The  Synoptic 
Evangelists  tell  us  of  angels  ministering  to  men,  and 
to  our  Blessed  Lord  Himself.  St.  Luke,  as  the 
historian  of  the  Church  Primitive,  tells  us  of  St. 
Peter's  deliverance  from  prison  by  his  guardian 
angel.  .  .  . 

The  first  Vision  of  Patmos  was  the  unveiling  of 
the  Likeness  of  our  Lord  in  glory.  What  Ezekiel 
saw  but  dimly  '  as  the  appearance  of  a  Man,'  St. 
John  saw  with  eyes  enlightened  by  the  Eucharistic 
Presence.  He  was  «  in  the  Spirit '  on  the  Lord's 
Day.  But  we  may  not  here  dwell  on  that  Divine 
Portrait.  We  pass  on  to  the  '  open  Door  in  Heaven  ' 
to  which  it  gave  St.  John  entrance  and  admission. 
1  Ezek,  i.  8-14,  26-28. 

L 


I46  A  BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

We  must  consider  the  testimony  of  the  'beloved 
disciple  '  on  the  worship  of  angels  about  the  Throne. 
He  gazed  into  the  mysteries  of  heaven,  as  Isaiah 
and  Ezekiel  had  done  before  him,  but  his  insight 
was  clearer  than  theirs,  because  his  eyes  had  seen 
*  the  King  in  His  Beauty  '  ;  he  had  looked  upon 
the  glorious  vision  of  the  Risen  and  Ascended  Re 
deemer.     Let  us  listen  to  his  own  words  :   l  And 
immediately  I  was  in   the  Spirit ;   and  behold,  a 
throne  was  set  in  heaven,   and  upon  the  throne 
One  sitting.     And  He  that  sat  was  to  look  upon 
like  a  jasper  and  a  sardine  stone  ;  and  there  was  a 
rainbow  round  about  the  throne  in  sight  like  unto 
an  emerald.'     The  subsequent  singing  of  the  '  Ter- 
Sanctus'  by  angels  and  saints  shows  us  that  He 
that  sat  on  the  throne  is  the  '  One  in  Three,  and 
Three  in  One,'  as  Cornelius  a  Lapide  rightly  inter 
prets   the   vision.      Cornelius   aptly   parallels    'the 
jasper  and  the  sardine  stone '  with  Ezekiel's  vision 
of  the  Divine  Radiance,  '  as  the  colour  of  amber  ; 
as  the  appearance  of  fire  round  about  within  it.' : 
The  rainbow  is  the  sign  of  the  Incarnation,  and 
Bede  says,  of  its  hue  of  fadeless  emerald,  that  it 
reminds  us  of  '  that  inheritance,  which  fadeth  not 
away,  of  the  saints  who  are  aiding  others  by  their 
prayers.' 

And   then   St.    John   saw :    '  round   about   the 
throne,  four  and  twenty  thrones  :    and  upon  the 

1  Ezek.  i.  27  ;  viii.  2. 


ANGELS  ROUND  THE  THRONE   147 

thrones  four  and  twenty  elders  sitting,"*  clothed  in 
white  raiment ;  and  on  their  heads  crowns  of  gold. 
And  out  of  the  throne  proceed  lightnings  and 
thunderings  and  voices  :  and  there  were  seven 
lamps  of  fire  burning  before  the  throne,  which  are 
the  seven  Spirits  of  God.  And  before  the  throne 
a  sea  of  glass  like  unto  crystal :  and  in  the  midst 
of  the  throne,  and  round  about  the  throne,  four 
living  creatures,  full  of  eyes  before  and  behind. 
And  the  first  living  creature  was  like  a  lion,  and  the 
second  living  creature  was  like  a  calf,  and  the  third 
living  creature  had  a  face  as  a  man,  and  the  fourth 
living  creature  was  like  a  flying  eagle.  And  the 
four  living  creatures,  having  each  of  them  six 
wings,  are  full  of  eyes  round  about  and  within, 
and  they  rest  not  day  and  night,  saying,  Holy, 
Holy,  Holy,  Lord  God  Almighty,  which  was,  and  is, 
and  is  to  come.' x 

We  see  in  the  crowned  elders  upon  their  thrones 
a  revelation  of  the  Church  triumphant.  'The 
cloud  of  witnesses  '  of  Hebrews  xii.  i,  '  the  spirits 
of  just  men  made  perfect.' 2  Moses  and  Elias, 
and  the  embodied  saints  of  St.  Matthew  xxvii.  52, 
reigning  as  'kings and  priests '  to  God,  and  St.  John's 
further  vision  of  Rev.  xii.  wherein  he  saw  the  glory 
of  *  the  woman  clothed  with  the  sun,'  the  second 
Eve,  the  Blessed  Ever-Virgin  Mother  of  God, 
typifying  in  the  exaltation  of  her  own  person  the 

1  Rev.  iv.  4-8.  2  Heb.  xii.  23. 


L  2 


148  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

dignity  and  the  glory  of  the  Church  of  the  Redeemer, 
—all  these,  severally  and  united,  compose  the 
glorious  company  of  the  throned  saints  of  the 
heavenly  Kingdom. 

The  four  Living  Creatures  recall  Ezekiel's  vision 
of  the  Cherubim.  They  have  *  six  wings,'  even  as 
the  Seraphim  revealed  to  the  raptured  gaze  of 
Isaiah,  and,  in  a  manner,  they  combine  the  visions 
of  Isaiah  and  Ezekiel. 

An  early  tradition  of  Christian  symbolism  and 
art  linked  the  vision  of  the  Four  Living  Creatures 
with  the  Fourfold  Gospel  of  the  Four  Evangelists. 
St.  Irenaeus  was  the  disciple  of  St.  Polycarp,  who 
was  himself  a  disciple  of  St.  John.  He  brought 
the  Johannine  traditions  of  Ephesus  and  the  East 
to  his  Western  See  of  Lyons,  and,  writing  about 
A.D.  182,  he  maintains  the  fourfold  unity  of  the 
Gospels  from  the  analogy  of  the  Cherubim  of  Ezekiel's 
vision.  'The  Divine  Word  .  .  .  sitteth  upon  the 
Cherubim,  and  holds  all  things  together;  Who, 
having  been  manifested  to  men,  gave  us  the  Quadri- 
form  Gospel,  which  is  held  together  by  one  Spirit. 
For  the  Cherubim  of  Ezekiel  had  four  faces  ;  and 
their  faces  are  emblems  of  the  Son  of  God.  For  the 
first  Living  Creature  (saith  St.  John)  is  like  a  lion, 
and  symbolises  the  Royal  Power  of  Christ ;  the 
second  is  like  a  calf,  signifying  His  Sacrificial  and 
Priestly  Office  ;  the  third  had,  as  it  were,  the  face  of 
a  man,  and  shows  His  Advent  in  our  human  nature  ; 


ANGELS   ROUND   THE   THRONE       149 

and  the  fourth,  like  a  flying  eagle,  shows  the  gift  of 
the  Spirit  hovering  with  His  Wings  over  the  Church. 
And  therefore  the  Gospels  are  in  accord  with  these 
things,  and  Christ  Jesus  sitteth  upon  them.  .  .  . 
Such  as  was  the  form  of  the  Living  Creatures,  so  was 
also  the  character  of  the  Gospel.  For  the  Living 
Creatures  are  quadriform,  and  quadriform  also  is 
the  Gospel.' ] 

The  Venerable  Bede  applies  to  the  living  creatures 
collectively  the  words  of  Psalm  xlv.  '  It  is  the 
Bride,'  he  says,  '  all  glorious  within,'  and  at  the 
same  time  '  wrought  about  with  divers  colours ' 
without.  Haymo  says,  *  that,  besides  the  Gospels 
they  represent  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  all  His 
Saints.'  We  may  well  believe  that  the  Living 
Creatures  collectively  represent  *  Mount  Zion,  the 
city  of  the  Living  God,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem, 
the  innumerable  company  of  angels,  the  general 
assembly  and  Church  of  the  firstborn,  and  the 
spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect.' 2  In  the  adora 
tion  of  the  Lamb — the  Eucharistic  Sacrifice  and 
Worship  of  Heaven,  we  find  the  four  Living  Creatures 
saying  4  Amen.' 3  We  may  conclude  then  that  the 
worship  of  the  angels,  centred  upon  '  the  Lamb 
as  it  had  been  slain,'  in  heaven  and  on  earth, 
and  expressed  by  the  angelic  '  Ter-Sanctus,'  is 
included  in  the  idea  of  the  four  Living  Creatures  and 

1  Adv.  Haer.  Bk.  iii.  c.  8.  a  Heb.  xii.  22,  23. 

3  Rev.  v.  14. 


150  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

their  adoration.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the 
Western  Liturgies  follow  the  earliest  form  of  the 
liturgy  of  St.  James,  or  the  Syrian  liturgy,  in  the 
'  Ter-Sanctus.'  They  use  the  Old  Testament  form 
instead  of  that  of  the  Apocalypse,  and  Archdeacon 
Freeman  believes  that  the  '  Ter-Sanctus  '  of  Ezekiel 
was  used  by  our  Lord  at  the  Maundy-Thursday 
institution  of  the  Holy  Eucharist.1 

It  seems  evident  that  the  Old  Testament  form 
of  the   '  Ter-Sanctus '   had  become  rooted  in  the 
Divine  liturgy  of  the  Church  before  St.  John  wrote 
the  Apocalypse,  and  that  the  '  Ter-Sanctus '  of  the 
New  Law,  as  revealed  in  the  Apocalypse,  was  con 
sidered  to  be  the  equivalent  of  Ezekiel's  form  of 
words.     It  unites  the  worship  of  the  Church  militant 
with  the    worship  of    Heaven.     Its    place   in    the 
liturgy,   immediately  preceding  the  canon,   which 
enshrines    the    act    of    consecration    (whereby    the 
Bread  and  Wine  '  become  to  us  the  Body  and  Blood 
of  Christ'),  is  of  deep  significance.      It  unites  us  with 
the  worship  of  Angels  and  Archangels,  and  lifts  our 
souls  to  Heaven  to  prepare  them  for  the  supreme 
moment  of  the  Consecration  itself,  when  we  bow  in 
worship    before    the    Eucharistic    Presence  of    our 
Lord.     At  that  supreme  moment  our  worship  on 
earth  blends  directly  with  the  worship  of  Heaven. 
The  Angels  and  Archangels  of  the  '  Sanctus '  cease 
not  from  their  endless  hymn  of  praise.     Its  echoes 

1  Principles  of  Divine  Service,  ii.  360. 


ANGELS   ROUND   THE   THRONE       151 

blend  with  the  worship  of  the  c  Lamb  as  it  had  been 
slain  '  on  our  earthly  Altars,  as  a  deep  undercurrent 
of  harmony  to  our  Benedictus,  Agnus,  and  Gloria 
in  excelsis.  The  abiding  thought  of  our  earthly 
harmonies  of  Eucharistic  praise  and  worship  being 
thus  blended  with  the  endless  song  of  the  angels  is 
the  highest  safeguard  of  our  reverence. 

We  are  helped  to  realise  the  mystery  of  the 
Eucharistic  Presence  of  our  Lord  '  because  of  the 
angels.'  The  thought  of  their  veiled  faces  helps  us 
to  veil  ours.  The  thought  of  the  sublime  and 
eternal  concentration  of  their  worship  aids  us  to 
centre  our  thoughts  upon  the  '  Lamb  as  it  had  been 
slain.'  And,  as  a  further  thought  to  aid  us,  we 
remember  that  our  own  guardian  angels  have  their 
part  and  lot  in  the  angelic  "  Ter-Sanctus.'  Their 
part  in  the  mystery  of  Praise  is  not  only  to  take 
their  own  share  in  it,  but  to  help  us  to  take  ours. 
The  guardian  angel  of  the  Priest  ministering  at  the 
altar  is  aiding  him  to  carry  out  his  ministry  of 
sacred  dignity  and  mystery — a  ministry  which 
even  angels  are  not  empowered  to  discharge — a 
ministry  reserved  for  mortal  men  when  our  Lord  said, 
'  As  the  Father  hath  sent  Me,  even  so  send  I  you.' 

The  guardian  angels  of  the  priest's  assistant 
ministers  at  the  Altar ; — of  the  singing  clerks  and 
choristers,  who  are  striving  to  fashion  earthly 
harmonies  '  after  the  pattern  of  the  Mount '  ; — the 
guardians  of  the  people  who  are  earnestly  taking 


152  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

their  part  in  the  Divine  liturgy  with  hearts  up 
raised  to  God  ; — these  angels,  who  are  the  Divine 
Warders  and  Watchers  of  our  holy  things,  have 
their  definite  office  in  guarding  us  from  vain  thoughts 
and  keeping  our  souls  in  the  true  pathway  of 
reverence,  so  that  OUF  '  Ter-Sanctus,'  however 
faint  or  imperfect  be  its  harmony,  should  yet  ring 
true  with  theirs. 

Let  us  follow  once  more  the  vision  of  the  Seer 
of  Patmos.  'And  I  beheld,  and,  lo,  in  the  midst 
of  the  throne  and  of  the  four  living  creatures,  and 
in  the  midst  of  the  elders,  stood  a  Lamb  as  it  had 
been  slain,  having  seven  horns  and  seven  eyes, 
which  are  the  seven  Spirits  of  God  sent  forth  into 
all  the  earth.'  The  Lamb  of  God  (Agnus  Dei,  Qui 
tollis  peccata  mundi !),  with  the  'seven  horns'  of 
supreme  dominion,  through  the  Kingdom  of  His 
Body,  the  Church  ;  and  the  '  seven  eyes '  ;  the  seven 
illuminating  gifts  of  the  Spirit  of  Pentecost,  which 
inform  and  inhabit  the  Church  Catholic  by  the 
grace  of  His  Sacraments  and  the  power  of  His  Life  ; 
is  here  revealed  in  His  Glory. 

*  And  the  four  living  creatures  and  the  four  and 
twenty  elders  fell  down  before  the  Lamb,  having 
every  one  of  them  harps,  and  golden  vials  full  of 
incense,  which  are  the  prayers  of  the  saints.  .  .  . 
And  I  beheld,  and  I  heard  the  voice  of  many  angels 
round  about  the  throne  and  the  living  creatures 
and  the  elders :  and  the  number  of  them  was  ten 


ANGELS   ROUND   THE   THRONE       153 

thousand  times  ten  thousand,  and  thousands  of 
thousands ;  Saying  with  a  loud  voice,  Worthy  is  the 
Lamb  that  was  slain  to  receive  power,  and  riches, 
and  wisdom,  and  strength,  and  honour,  and  glory, 
and  blessing.  .  .  .  And  the  four  living  creatures 
said,  Amen.  And  the  four  and  twenty  elders  fell 
down  and  worshipped  Him  that  liveth  for  ever  and 
ever.'' x  This  heavenly  picture  of  Worship  is  beyond 
the  scope  of  human  Art,  however  spiritual  be  its 
conceptions.  And  yet  Van  Eyck's  altar-piece  repre 
senting  '  The  Adoration  of  the  Lamb,'  touches  our 
hearts  by  the  very  inadequacy  of  its  reverential  treat 
ment  and  presentment  of  the  Worship  of  Heaven. 

We  cannot  gaze  on  it  unmoved. 

But  besides  this  worship  of  the  Lamb  by  the 
heavenly  host  and  the  Church  triumphant,  which  is 
revealed  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  the  Apocalypse,  we 
find  later  on  a  most  significant  act  of  worship  offered 
by  a  single  angel.  Six  of  the  mysterious  seals  of 
God's  Book  had  been  opened  by  the  Lamb,  Who  is 
the  lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah.  '  John  heard  of  a 
Lion,'  saith  St.  Bernard,  '  and  beheld  a  Lamb ;  the 
Lamb  opened  the  book,  and  appeared  a  Lion.'  The 
sixth  seal  was  opened,  and  the  servants  of  God  were 
sealed  on  their  foreheads.  *  The  great  multitude 
that  no  man  could  number,'  the  Church  of  the  re 
deemed  '  clothed  in  white  robes,  with  palms  in  their 
hands,'  were  offering  their  eternal  hymn  of  praise. 
1  Rev.  v.  6-14. 


154  A  BOOK  OF  ANGELS 

And  then  the  seventh  seal  was  opened,  the  pre 
lude  to  the  mystery  of  the  seven  trumpets.  '  There 
was  silence  in  heaven  for  the  space  of  half  an  hour.'  1 
The  silence  reminds  us  of  the  Day  of  Atonement 
under  the  Old  Law.  The  people  are  praying  in 
silence  without  the  tabernacle  '  at  the  time  of 
incense.' 2  The  high  priest  has  gone  into  the 
holy  place.  Here  are  the  figures  of  the  True  Taber 
nacle  and  its  worship.  Our  great  High  Priest 
pleads  His  One  Sacrifice  before  the  Altar  of  Heaven. 
His  priests  on  earth  are  pleading,  in  His  Name,  and 
by  His  power,  the  same  Sacrifice,  as  His  chosen 
representatives — as  the  organs  of  the  Body  of 
Christ. 

It  is  the  moment  of  the  Consecration. 
There  is  silence — the  silence  of  adoring  worship. 
'  And   another   angel   came   and   stood   at   the 
altar,  having  a  golden  censer  ;  and  there  was  given 
unto  him  much  incense,  that  he  should  offer  it  with 
the   prayers   of  all  saints   upon   the  golden   altar 
which  was  before  the  throne.     And  the  smoke  of 
the  incense,  with  the  prayers  of  the  saints,  ascended 
up  before  God  out  of  the  angel's  hand.'  3 

The  Western  Liturgies  have  most  fitly  incor 
porated  this  heavenly  vision  of  the  angel  offering 
incense  before  the  Golden  Altar  into  the  Canon  of 
the  Mass.  It  takes  the  place  of  the  Eastern  '  Epi- 
klesis '  or  invocation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  the 

1  Rev.  viii.  i.  2  St.  Luke  i.  10.  3  Rev.  viii.  3-4. 


ANGELS   ROUND   THE   THRONE       155 

Eucharistic  Offering.  The  eminent  French  liturgical 
scholar,  Mgr.  Duchesne,  says :  '  But  whilst  the  Greek 
liturgies  use  here  clear  and  simple  terms,  the 
Roman  liturgy  embodies  its  meaning  in  symbolical 
forms.  It  prays  that  the  Angel  of  the  Lord  may 
take  the  Oblation  from  the  visible  Altar,  and  bear 
it  to  the  highest  Heaven,  to  the  invisible  Altar, 
before  the  shrine  of  the  Divine  Majesty.  This 
symbolical  transference  is  in  a  contrary  sense  to 
that  implied  in  the  Greek  formulary ;  it  involves 
not  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  the  oblation, 
but  the  elevation  by  God's  Angel  of  the  oblation  to 
Heaven.  But  in  both  cases  alike  it  is  after  it  has 
been  brought  near  to,  and  has  participated  in,  the 
Divine  Virtue  that  it  is  called  the  Body  and  Blood 
of  Christ.'  l 

The  same  prayer  appears  in  the  Ambrosian 
Liturgy  of  Milan.  Here  are  its  actual  words : 
'  Supplices  te  rogamus,  Omnipotens  Deus,  jube 
haec  perf  erri  per  manus  sancti  Angeli  Tui,  in  sublime 
Altare  Tuum,  in  conspectu  Divinae  Majestatis  Tuae, 
ut  quotquot  ex  hac  Altaris  participatione  sacro- 
sanctum  Filii  Tui  Corpus  et  Sanguinem  sumpseri- 
mus,  omni  benedictione  coelesti  et  gratia  repleamur.' 
This  prayer  appears  in  these  words  in  the  Sarum 
Missal  and  our  other  English  uses,  and  may  thus 
be  rendered  :  *  We  humbly  beseech  Thee,  Almighty 
God,  that  Thou  wouldst  command  these  to  be 
1  Duchesne's  Christian  Worship,  p.  181. 


156  A    BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

borne  by  the  hands  of  Thy  Holy  Angel  unto  Thine 
Altar  on  high,  into  the  sight  of  Thy  Divine  Majesty, 
so  that  as  many  of  us  as  by  partaking  of  this  Altar 
have  received  the  Holy  Body  and  Blood  of  Thy 
Son,  may  be  fulfilled  with  Thy  Grace  and  Heavenly 
Benediction.' 

This  touching  and  venerable  prayer,  which 
links  the  Altars  of  earth  and  the  Altar  of  Heaven, 
appeared  in  the  English  Canon  of  the  Prayer-book 
of  1549  m  a  form  which  still  embodied  a  portion  of 
its  meaning :  '  And  although  we  be  unworthy 
through  our  manifold  sins  to  offer  unto  Thee  any 
sacrifice  ;  yet  we  beseech  Thee  to  accept  this  our 
bounden  duty  and  service,  and  command  these 
our  prayers  and  supplications,  by  the  ministry  of 
Thy  Holy  Angels,  to  be  brought  up  into  Thy  Holy 
Tabernacle  before  the  sight  of  Thy  Divine  Majesty.' 

We  may  remember  here,  too,  that  the  Angel  of 
St.  John's  vision  offered  incense  as  he  approached 
the  Altar  of  Heaven.  Here  is  the  justification  of  our 
offering  incense  at  the  Canon.  Its  rising  clouds  of 
sweet  savour  remind  us  of  the  Worship  of  Heaven  and 
the  prayers  of  the  Saints.  And  so  Angels  and  Arch 
angels,  the  whole  Company  of  Heaven,  and  our  own 
guardian  Angels,  aid  in  our  Eucharistic  Praise  and 
worship.  The  incense  of  the  Angel  of  offering,  in 
his  individual  ministry,  reminds  us  that  we  are  not 
alone  in  our  Eucharist.  We  join  the  incense  of  our 
prayers  with  the  great  cloud  of  Heavenly  incense — 


ANGELS   ROUND   THE   THRONE       157 

the  prayers  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mother  of  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord  and  God,  and  the  prayers  of  the 
Patriarchs,  Prophets,  Apostles,  and  Martyrs,  the 
Saints  of  the  Church  Triumphant.  The  more  we 
ponder  the  mysteries  and  the  realities,  visible  and 
invisible,  which  encompass  our  earthly  Altars,  the 
nearer  we  shall  be  to  God  in  Christ. 

Hitherto  we  have  thought  exclusively  of  the 
office  of  the  Holy  Angels  of  Praise  and  Worship,  as 
linked  to  the  Sacrifice  of  the  Altar.  We  may  close 
with  the  thought  that  the  angels  of  Praise  may  well 
link  their  worship  with  the  sacramental  life  of  the 
Church  generally.  Holy  Baptism  is  the  janua 
sacramentorum.  Are  not  the  holy  angels  rejoicing 
around  this  '  entrance  gate '  of  the  Kingdom  ? 
Surely  the  beautiful  conception  of  the  sculptor 
Thorwaldsen,  so  well  known  to  many  of  us  in  the 
font  of  Inverness  Cathedral,  is  not  a  mere  artistic 
imagination.  The  angel  holding  up  the  Baptismal 
Font  represents  a  living  truth.  Our  baptisms  are 
normally  those  of  infants.  We  forget  the  fierce 
struggles  of  heathens,  and  even  adults  in  a  Christian 
land,  who  are  being  prepared  for  Baptism.  Repent 
ance  and  Faith  must  be  wrought  out  in  them  as 
antecedent  conditions  of  their  baptism.  And  we 
think  of  St.  Bernard's  words,  '  the  tears  of  penitents 
are  the  wine  of  angels/  and  thus  we  believe  that  the 
angels  of  God  rejoice  over  the  repentance  and  faith 
of  the  newly  baptized. 


158  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

There  was  a  division  of  opinion  in  the  Church 
as  to  the  time  when  God  appoints  the  Angel-guardian 
to  watch  over  each  of  the  souls  of  men.  Some 
thought  that  this  guardianship  had  its  beginning 
at  the  Font  of  Baptism,  and  gave  as  their  reason 
that  the  Angel-guardians  are  sent  to  minister 
exclusively  to  the  '  heirs  of  salvation.'  It  is  evident 
that  we  do  not  become  '  heirs  of  the  Kingdom  ' 
until  we  are  baptized.  But  St.  Thomas  Aquinas 
holds  that  this  is  too  narrow  a  view. — There  is  a 
wholesome  breadth  of  outlook  in  the  theology  of 
the  greatest  of  the  schoolmen.— He  says  that  our 
guardian  angels  enter  upon  their  office  as  soon  as 
we  are  born  into  the  world.1 

Surely  then  the  guardian  angel  of  an  infant, 
one  of  the  little  ones  '  whose  angels  do  always 
behold  the  Face  of  the  Father,' 2  rejoices  over  its 
baptismal  sealing  and  regeneration  by  water  and 
the  Holy  Ghost,  no  less  than  the  guardian  angel  of 
a  convert  from  heathenism  or  misbelief  whose 
baptism  takes  place  *  in  riper  years.' 

In  like  manner  the  guardian  angels  rejoice  when 
the  sevenfold  Gifts  of  the  Spirit  are  imparted  through 
the  Sacrament  of  Confirmation  to  those  souls  over 
whom  they  watch.  The  same  applies  also  to  the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  Sacrament  of  '  Holy 
Orders,'  and  we  may  likewise  believe  that  in  Holy 
Matrimony  and  the  Anointing  of  the  Sick,  the 

1  Summa,  i.  Q.  cxiii.  A.  5.  a  St.  Matt,  xviii.  10. 


ANGELS   ROUND   THE   THRONE       159 

special  grace  given  to  the  recipients  calls  forth  its 
own  special  joy  in  the  angel  appointed  to  care  for 
each  soul  that  receives  it. 

We  may  ask  ourselves  how  shall  we  best  realise 
our  communion  with  the  Holy  Angels  whose  minis 
tries  and  service  are  thus  linked  with  ours  *  in  a 
wonderful  order '  ? 

We  may  believe  with  Origen  that  '  the  angel  of 
each  one  of  us,  even  of  the  little  ones  in  the  Church, 
both  prays  with  us,  and  acts  with  us  in  those  things 
about  which  we  pray,  wherein  it  is  possible.'  l 
We  may  believe,  with  St.  Basil,  that  '  some  of  the 
Holy  Spiritual  Powers,  who  have  their  places  in 
Heaven,  are  called  eyes,  from  being  entrusted  to 
watch  over  us ;  others  ears,  from  receiving  our 
prayers 2 ;  and,  with  St.  Hilary,  that  '  the  authority 
is  absolute  that  angels  preside  over  the  prayers  of 
the  faithful ;  wherefore  angels  day  by  day  offer  up 
to  God  the  prayers  of  those  who  are  saved  by 
Christ.' 3 

A.  T.  W. 


In  the  midst  of  the  Throne  .  .  .  stood  a  Lamb  as  It  had  been 
slain. — Rev.  v.  6. 

AROUND  Him  are  three  concentric  circles  of  adora 
tion.  The  inmost  proceeds  from  the  four  mys 
terious  creatures  and  the  four  and  twenty  elders 
who  '  have  harps,  and  golden  vials  full  of  odours, 

J  De  Oraiione,  xvi.  215.  2  Horn,  in  Ps.  xxxiii. 

3  In  St.  Matt,  xviii. 


160  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

which  are  the  prayers  of  the  saints.'  These  are 
the  courtiers  who  are  placed  on  the  very  steps 
of  the  Throne  ;  they  represent  more  distant  wor 
shippers.  But  they  too  fall  down  before  the  Throne, 
and  sing  the  new  song  which  is  addressed  to  the 
Lamb  slain  and  glorified.  '  Thou  wast  slain,  and 
hast  redeemed  us  to  God  by  Thy  Blood  out  of  every 
kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  and  nation  ;  and 
hast  made  us  unto  our  God  kings  and  priests :  and 
we  shall  reign  on  the  earth.'  Around  these,  at  a 
greater  distance  from  the  Most  Holy,  there  is  a 
countless  company  of  worshippers  :  '  I  heard  the 
voice  of  many  angels  round  about  the  throne  and 
the  creatures  and  the  elders  ;  and  the  number  of 
them  was  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand,  and 
thousands  of  thousands  ;  Saying  with  a  loud  voice, 
Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain  to  receive 
power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and  strength,  and 
honour,  and  glory,  and  blessing.'  Beyond  these 
again  the  entranced  Apostle  discerns  a  third  sphere 
in  which  a  perpetual  worship  is  maintained.  Lying 
outside  the  two  inner  circles  of  conscious  adoration 
offered  by  the  heavenly  intelligences,  there  is  in 
St.  John's  vision  an  assemblage  of  all  created  life, 
which,  whether  it  wills  or  not,  lives  for  Christ's 
as  for  the  Father's  Glory  :  '  And  every  creature 
which  is  in  heaven,  and  on  the  earth,  and  under  the 
earth,  and  such  as  are  in  the  sea,  and  all  that  are 
in  them,  heard  I  saying,  Blessing,  and  honour, 
and  glory,  and  power,  be  unto  Him  that  sitteth  upon 
the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb  for  ever  and  ever.' 
This  is  the  hymn  of  the  whole  visible  creation,  and 


ANGELS   ROUND   THE   THRONE       161 

to  it  a  response  comes  from  the  inmost  circle  of 
adoring  beings,  ratifying  and  harmonising  this 
sublime  movement  of  universal  life.  '  And  the  four 
creatures  said,  Amen.'  And  how  does  the  redeemed 
Church  on  earth  bear  her  part  in  this  universal 
chorus  of  praise  ?  '  Unto  Him  that  loved  us  and 
washed  us  from  our  sins  in  His  Own  Blood,  and  hath 
made  us  kings  and  priests  unto  God  and  His  Father ; 
to  Him  be  glory  and  dominion  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen.' l 

H.  P.  Liddon. 
They  rest  not  day  and  night. — Rev.  iv.  8. 

I  SUPPOSE  by  rest  not  we  may  understand  cease 
not,  pause  not,  flag  not ;  their  endless  worship  being 
an  endless  contentment,  their  labour  a  labour  of 
love,  their  exploration  of  unfathomable  mysteries 
as  it  were  a  skylark's  ever-ascending  flight ;  yet 
even  at  the  same  moment,  as  his  sustained  exalta 
tion  at  his  zenith  on  poised  wings. 

Rapture  and  rest,  desire  and  satisfaction,  per 
fection  and  progress,  may  seem  to  clash  to-day ; 
to-morrow  the  paradoxes  of  earth  may  reappear 
as  the  demonstrations  of  Heaven. 

These  Living  Creatures  compounded  of  multiplied 
gifts  and  multiform  beauties  concentrate  themselves 
in  worship.  Their  worship  is  due  exercise  of  their 
gifts  ;  the  exercise  of  their  gifts  is  worship.  '  Day 
and  night.'— Yet  we  look  for  no  night  there.  Mean 
while  though  the  ebb  and  flow  of  time  sway  not  the 

1  Rev.  i.  5,  6. 

M 


162  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

natives  of  heaven,  their  perpetual  adoration  runs 
parallel  with  our  night  and  day ;  they  worship 
while  we  wake,  and  worship  on  while  we  sleep. 
Alas,  for  us,  if  while  they  rest  not  from  worship, 
we  worship  not  either  while  we  labour  or  while  we 

rest. 

Christina  Rossetti. 

There  was  silence  in  Heaven. — Rev.  viii.  i. 

THERE  is  an  eloquence  that  lives  not  in  words. 
There  is  a  power  of  expression,  a  power  of  influence, 
which  all  of  us  ere  now  have  owned,  that  never 
breathed  itself  away  in  sound.  There  is  an  appeal 
to  the  heart,  and  to  the  reason  too,  in  the  language 
of  silence.  The  silence  of  a  desert  land.  The 
silence  of  the  sea.  The  silence  of  the  mountain  top. 
The  silence  of  old  associations.  There  is  a  silence 
too  amongst  men  that  speaks  most  unmistakeably 
—the  silence  of  deep  feeling,  whether  of  sorrow, 
or  rage,  or  attention,  or  determination,  when  men 
have  ceased  to  speak,  because  they  feel  words  are 
out  of  place  and  the  time  of  work  has  come.  .  .  . 

For  all  great  works  great  preparation  is  needed. 
And  is  not  silence  the  condition  of  real  work — of 
most  work  with  the  hand,  of  all  real  work  with 
the  head  ? 

Silence  is  the  attitude  of  listening  and  attention. 
In  the  silence  of  thought,  in  the  silence  of  humility, 
in  the  silence  of  reverence,  in  the  silence  of  deep 
feeling,  in  the  silence  of  earnest  determination,  we 
prepare  an  offering  of  prayer  and  praise.1 
1  Hab.  ii.  20. 


ANGELS   ROUND  THE  THRONE        163 

Deep  silence  has  preluded  many  acts.  The 
silence  of  the  night  preceded  the  Angels'  song  that 
told  when  Christ  was  born;  deep  silence  reigned 
around  the  Cross  while  Jesus  finished  redemption's 
work ;  deep  and  solemn  silence  there  is,  we  are 
told,  in  heaven— there,  in  the  very  temple  of 
God,  the  silence  of  expectation,  and  of  awe  and 
wonder  ;  and  while  that  silence  lasted  the  '  smoke 
of  the  incense  rose  up  before  the  throne  of  God, 
which  is  the  prayers  of  all  the  saints.' 

If  we  would  tune  our  voices  to  sing  the  songs  of 
God  aright,  let  us  listen  in  silence  to  catch  that 
note  of  holiness,  the  note  of  a  spirit  that  holds 
communion  with  God.  If  we  would  direct  our 
prayers  aright  in  any  way,  let  us  concentrate  our 
selves  by  silent  preparation  and  discipline,  that  we 
may  inprove  every  gift  we  have,  that  we  may  still 
have  a  strong  and  steady  stream  of  strength  when 
the  way  becomes  long  and  the  work  ceases  to  be 
attractive!  .  .  . 

Tuned  to  the  one  key  of  God's  Glory,  make  your 
life  one  noble  melody,  weaving  in,  in  mystic  harmony, 
all  chords  of  joy  and  sorrow,  difficulty  and  success^ 
till  death  puts  in  a  rest,  and  after  one  more  silence 
the  music  bursts  forth  again,  taken  up  by  the 
choirs  of  Heaven. 

G.  C.  Harris. 

How  shall  I  sing  that  Majesty 

Which  Angels  do  admire  ? 
Let  dust  in  dust  and  silence  lie  ; 

Sing,  sing,  ye  heavenly  quire  ! 

M2 


164  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

Thousands  of  thousands  stand  around 
Thy  throne,  O  God  Most  High  ; 

Ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand  sound 
Thy  praise  ;  but  who  am  I  ? 

Thy  brightness  unto  them  appears ; 

Whilst  I  Thy  footsteps  trace, 
A  sound  of  God  comes  to  my  ears  ; 

But  they  behold  Thy  Face. 
They  sing  because  Thou  art  their  sun  : 

Lord,  send  a  beam  on  me  ; 
For  where  heaven  is  but  once  begun, 

There  hallelujahs  be. 

How  great  a  Being,  Lord,  is  Thine, 

Which  doth  all  beings  keep  ! 
Thy  knowledge  is  the  only  line 

To  sound  so  vast  a  deep. 
Thou  art  a  sea  without  a  shore, 

A  sun  without  a  sphere  ; 
Thy  time  is  now  and  evermore, 

Thy  place  is  everywhere. 

Who  would  not  fear  Thy  searching  Eye, 

Witness  to  all  that's  true  ! 
Dark  Hell  and  deep  hypocrisy, 

Lie  plain  before  Its  view. 
Motions  and  thoughts  before  they  grow, 

Thy  knowledge  doth  espy  ; 
What  unborn  ages  are  to  do 

Is  done  before  Thine  eye. 

John  Mason  (1683). 


CHAPTER  VIII 
Certain  characteristics  of  tbe  Hngels 

In  la  sua  voluntade  e  nostra  pace. 

DANTE. 

Listen  through  God's  mysteries, 
Listen  down  the  heart  of  things  ; 
Ye  shall  hear  our  mystic  wings 
Murmuring  with  loving. 
Through  the  opal  door 

Listen  evermore 
How  we  live  by  loving. 

E.  B.  BROWNING. 


C/3    -' 

S  I 


FLOW  on,  flow  on  to  Heaven  from  whence  ye  rise, 

Ye  blessed  harmonies, 
And  waft  us  on  your  breast  unto  your  parent  skies  ; 

Attune  our  spirits  here  below 
To  order  and  obedience  meet, 
Such  as  there  is  in  that  blest  seat 

From  whence  ye  flow. 

Obedience — it  is  love, 
And  where  love  is  is  harmony, 

Therefore  the  stars  that  range  above 
Throughout  the  infinite  in  order  roving, 

As  through  the  shoreless  space  they  fly, 

We  deem  to  thread  their  maze  to  music  high, 
In  some  melodious  measure  moving  ; 

And  all  we  know  of  Angels  blest, 

Is  that  they  love  and  they  obey, 

And  sing  alway, 
Ever  singing,  ever  loving 

In  the  mansions  of  their  rest, 

Around  the  throne  where  God  is  manifest. 
And  what  we  music  call  below 
Is  something  thence  that  doth  o'erflow, 

Like  a  golden  stream  of  light 

From  the  infinite  ; 
Here  in  matter  dull  unfolding 
And  our  earth-sick  hearts  upholding  ; 

And  therefore  like  electric  chain 

It  hath  a  power  in  souls  to  reign. 
And  rivet  with  a  sadness  sweet, 
Like  voices  come  to  exiles  lone  from  their  abiding 
seat. 

Isaac  Williams  (1802-1865). 


Certain  Characteristics  ot  tbe  Hngels 

WE  are  surrounded  by  Angels,  those  pure  and 
heavenly  beings,  we  move  amongst  them,,  we  speak 
and  act  in  their  presence  ;  and  yet  many  of  us  think 
very  little  about  the  Holy  Angels.  It  is  with  them 
as  with  so  many  other  objects  of  faith,  they  are 
'  out  of  sight/  and  therefore  '  out  of  mind.'  They 
may  often  be  as  thickly  gathered  around  us  as  they 
were  gathered  around  the  servant  of  Elisha  in 
Dothan,  but  it  does  not  please  the  Lord  to  open  our 
eyes  to  see  them,  and  so  we  are  apt  to  forget  that  it 
is  one  of  our  high  privileges  as  members  of  the 
Church  that  we  '  are  come  unto  '  this  innumerable 
company  of  angels.  The  Holy  Scriptures  are  full 
of  the  mention  of  angels,  from  that  sad  moment  in 
the  past  when  fallen  man  was  driven  out  of  Paradise 
through  these  ministers  of  the  justice  of  God,  far 
on  into  that  bright  and  glorious  future  when  man 
redeemed  and  renewed  shall  stand  with  the  multi 
tudinous  hosts  of  angels  before  the  face  of  God, 
safe  in  the  eternal  home  from  which  there  is  no 
wandering  away  for  evermore.  Anyone  who  has 
never  read  the  Bible  with  a  view  to  noticing  this 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE    ANGELS    169 

particular  point,  would  be  astonished  to  discover 
how  full  it  is  of  revelations  concerning  the  holy 
angels.  And  yet,  often  as  God  speaks  to  us  about 
them,  the  angels  do  not  live  in  our  thoughts  and 
minds  as  they  should. 

Some  of  the  most  devout  of  the  servants  of  God 
have  loved  to  contemplate  these  blessed  spirits. 
We  read  of  one  of  the  greatest  saints  of  our  Com 
munion,  that  in  his  last  hours  he  was  lying  rapt  in 
contemplation,  like  one  lifted  already  beyond  this 
world,  and  that,  when  his  friend  asked  him  on  what 
his  mind  was  fixed,  he  answered  that  he  was  '  medi 
tating  the  number  and  nature  of  angels,  and  their 
blessed  obedience,  and  order,  without  which  peace 
could  not  be  in  heaven,  and  oh,  that  it  might  be  so 
on  earth.' l  Like  him  let  us  lift  our  minds  to  the 
angels.  There  is  much  to  be  gained  from  thinking 
of  them.  The  thought  of  their  glorious  nature 
may  fill  us  with  a  great  wonder  at  the  power  of 
God  who  made  them.  The  thought  of  their  number 
and  their  closeness  to  us  may  impress  us  with  a 
deep  and  constraining  awe.  The  thought  of  their 
unceasing  and  tender  care  for  us  may  quicken  in 
us  a  more  fervent  love  for  God  who  sends  them  forth 
to  minister  to  us.  The  thought  of  their  constant 
and  unswerving  obedience  may  stir  in  us  a  more 
earnest  desire  to  serve  God.  The  thought  of  their 
stainless  purity  may  make  us  understand  what  real 

1  Richard  Hooker. 


170  A  BOOK-  OF  ANGELS 

holiness  is,  and  so  teach  us  to  loathe  the  stains  of 
sin  that  still  rest  upon  us,  and  thus  draw  us  to  God 
with  more  earnest  cravings  for  that  pardon  and  grace 
which  can  change  our  guilty  nature. 

And  this  is  the  end  of  all  right  contemplation  of 
the  holy  angels, — to  fix  our  hearts  more  entirely  on 
God.  In  the  very  words  in  which  our  Blessed  Lord 
speaks  of  their  love  and  watchfulness,  He  leads  us  on 
beyond  their  shining  ranks  up  to  the  infinitely 
higher  glory  on  which  they  gaze,  the  uncreated  Glory 
from  which  they  draw  what  created  glory  they 
have.  '  They  do  always  behold  the  Face  of  My 
Father  which  is  in  heaven.' l 

All  creation,  with  its  beauty  and  its  order,  should 
draw  us  up  to  God — the  sun  in  its  majesty,  the 
sparkling  rivers,  the  rolling,  heaving  sea,  the 
spangled  skies,  the  hues  of  flowers,  the  songs  of  birds, 
the  order  and  course  of  the  seasons  ;  all  these  carry 
our  minds  beyond  and  above  themselves  up  to 
God.  And  as  all  these  speak  of  God,  God  making, 
God  ruling,  God  loving,  God  so  far  better  than  they  ; 
as  it  is  idolatry  to  let  the  heart  rest  on  these,  and 
not  live  above  them  to  God  ;  so  it  is  with  these 
highest  of  all  creatures,  the  Angels.  Their  order, 
their  brightness,  their  majesty,  their  purity,  speak 
of  God  ;  manifest  to  us  what  God  is  who  made  them, 
and  carry  our  minds  above  their  glory  to  His  Glory. 
We  can  only  think  of  them  safely,  when  we  are 
1  St.  Matt,  xviii.  10. 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   ANGELS    171 

determined  to  learn  what  He  is  from  observing 
what  they  are.  Angels  and  ministers  they  are  to 
Him.  Their  every  act,  and  word,  and  look,  witnesses 
to  Him.  It  is  His  love,  His  care,  that  shows  itself  in 
their  ministries  to  us.  It  is  the  radiance  of  His 
glory  which  bathes  them  in  light.  It  is  His  might 
with  which  they  are  instinct.  If  they  '  excel  in 
strength  '  it  is  because  God  holdeth  their  souls  in 
life,  and  suffereth  not  their  feet  to  slip.  Nay,  so 
much  is  this  the  case,  that  one  of  the  greatest 
writers  of  the  Church  says,  that  it  would  seem  that 
the  very  fall  of  Satan  was  owing  to  this,  that  he 
wished  to  attain  the  blessedness  for  which  he  was 
made  through  his  own  strength.  Let  us  then  keep 
this  thought  in  our  minds,  that  in  the  angels  we  are 
to  adore  the  work,  and  power,  and  love  of  God,  and 
how  much  we  gain  from  meditating  upon  them  ! 
how  much  we  should  lose  if  we  did  not  think  of 
them  ! 

i.  How  wonderful  is  the  account  of  their  vast 
numbers  in  Holy  Scripture,  the  '  thousand  thousands 
and  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand  ' :  of  their 
supernal  ranks,  the  '  more  than  twelve  legions ' 2 
that  are  ready  to  spring  forth  to  accomplish  even 
one  behest  of  God  !  What  is  it  to  remember  that 
these  hosts  of  God  camp  round  us,  that  we  move 
in  the  midst  of  their  serried  order,  ourselves  perhaps 
only  a  thin  and  scattered  number  in  comparison  of 

1  Dan.  vii.  10.  2  St.  Matt.  xxvi.  53. 


172  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

their  multitude  ?  It  may  be  that  these  morning 
stars  of  the  spiritual  heavens  are  spread  more 
thickly  round  us  than  the  orbs  that  spangle  the 
natural  heavens  over  us. 

2.  Then  again,  what  are  they  by  nature  ?  How 
high  must  they  be  whom  the  Psalmist,  even  with 
his  soul's  eye  fixed  on  God,  speaks  of  as  4  excelling 
in  strength.'  l 

How  great  must  be  their  dignity,  when  the  great 
ness  of  the  Son  of  God  is  described  by  His  ascending 
up  above  them.2  How  great  must  be  their  knowledge, 
when  our  Blessed  Lord  enhances  the  mysteries  of 
His  Kingdom  by  saying  that  there  are  secrets 
which  are  not  known  even  to  the  angels.3  As  St. 
Gregory  says,  '  They  contemplate  the  very  fountain 
of  knowledge  ;  what  must  they  not  know  of  all  that 
can  be  known,  who  know  Him  that  knoweth  all 
things  ?  '  How  incomprehensible  to  us  is  this  pure, 
spiritual  nature,  unclogged  by  our  grosser  flesh. 

What  a  thought  that  they  are  with  us,  when 
we  seem  to  be  alone,  watching  us,  fixing  their  keen 
gaze  upon  us,  that  even  while  we  speak  to  others 
about  them,  they  listen  and  hear  what  we  say  of 
them.  So  strongly  was  the  great  Bishop  Bull 
possessed  with  this  belief,  that  he  said,  when 
preaching  about  the  holy  angels,  that  he  should  be 
careful  of  his  words,  as  he  was  speaking  in  the 
presence  of  some  of  those  heavenly  ministers. 

1  Ps.  ciii.  20.  2  Eph.  i.  21.  3  St.  Matt.  xxiv.  36. 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   ANGELS    173 

3.  If  we   pass   from   their   nature  to   think   of 
their  character,  there  is  still  more  to  fill  us  with 
wonder  at  its  perfection. 

How  must  our  Lord  rejoice  in  their  willing 
service,  when  He  teaches  us  that  to  please  Him  we 
must  aim  at  being  to  Him  what  they  are.  And  so 
we  find  that  the  rest  of  Holy  Scripture  in  agreement 
with  this  highest  praise,  speaks  of  their  lowly, 
fervent  adoration  of  God,  their  hearkening  to  His 
Word,  their  constant  waiting  on  Him  to  worship 
Him,  their  watching  for  signs  of  His  Will,  their 
wondering  awe  at  His  loving  plans  for  His  Church  ? 1 
And  then  springing  out  of  this  constant  love  of 
God  is  a  no  less  constant  love  of  what  God  has 
made.  Thus  we  read  of  their  songs  of  joy  at 
creation,  their  bursts  of  praise  when  God  was  made 
man  to  save  the  lost  world,  their  bending  down  to 
watch  the  working  of  God's  grace  in  the  Church,2 
their  joy  in  the  coming  back  of  sinners  to  God.3 
What  a  character  is  here  of  untiring  obedience,  of 
joy  in  God's  worship,  of  enraptured  contemplation 
of  His  goodness,  of  active,  earnest  work  for  Him. 
What  a  thorough  bending  of  the  will  to  His  Will ; 
what  a  devoting  of  all  powers  to  His  service  ;  what 
an  entire  union  of  the  inner  spirit  with  Him. 

4.  But  we  must  not  pass  over  the  special  office 
and  work  of  the  angels.     Our  Lord  describes  it  as 
consisting  in  worship,  and  a  guardian  care  of  others. 

1  Eph.  iii.  10.  2  i  St.  Pet.  i.  12.  3  St.  Luke  xv.  10. 


174  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

4  They  behold  the  Face  of  the  Father,'— that  is  their 
joy  in  rest.  They  are  special  servants  of  Christ's 
little  ones,  appointed  to  watch  over  them, — that  is 
their  joy  in  action.  They  are  '  servants  of  God  ' 
to  do  '  His  pleasure.'  He  is  pleased  by  them  to 
carry  out  His  Will  on  earth. 

If  you  ask,  Why  ?  we  know  not.  Why  does 
He  govern  the  world  by  kings  and  rulers  ?  Doubt 
less  He  could  govern  it  without  them.  Why 
does  He  govern  the  Church  by  bishops  and  priests  ? 
He  could  govern  it  without  them,  doubtless.  Why 
does  He  govern  the  very  angels  through  higher 
angels  ?  Why  are  there  orders  and  gradations  of 
ranks  even  amongst  those  blessed  ones  ?  Why 
are  there  cherubim  and  seraphim,  and  thrones,  and 
dominions,  and  principalities,  virtues,  powers,  arch 
angels  and  angels  ?  It  is  enough  for  us  if  He  so 
trains  all  His  creatures  in  obedience,  order,  and 
submission.  It  is  more  than  enough,  if  He  is  so 
pleased  to  give  each  in  his  place  the  blessedness  of 
having  some  work  to  do  for  Himself.  It  may  be 
that  He  hereby  knits  us  in  love  one  to  another. 
It  may  be  that  He  draws  out  the  affections  of  the 
heart  by  giving  us  offices  of  love  towards  each 
other.  •  But  at  least  so  it  is.  He  has  '  constituted 
the  services  of  angels  and  men  in  a  wonderful  order.' 
Accordingly  He  has  used  those  blessed  ones  to 
chastise  some,  to  help  others.  Angels  drove  man 
in  his  guilt  from  Paradise.  An  angel  with  his 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   ANGELS    175 

drawn  sword  was  the  messenger  of  chastisement  to 
Jerusalem  ;  an  angel  smote  the  hosts  of  Senna 
cherib  ;  an  angel  smote  Herod.  And  as  they  have 
been  sent  by  God  to  carry  out  His  sentences  upon 
the  ungodly,  so  has  He  used  them  for  ministries  of 
love.  When  Hagar  was  fainting  in  the  thirsty 
desert,  an  angel  relieved  her  in  her  distress  and 
showed  her  the  well  of  water.  An  angel  stopped  the 
mouths  of  the  lions,  so  that  they  could  not  hurt 
Daniel ;  an  angel  opened  the  gates  of  St.  Peter's 
prison  ;  an  angel  cheered  St.  Paul  when  he  was  in 
danger  of  shipwreck  ;  an  angel  brought  comfort  to 
Cornelius  after  his  earnest  prayers ;  above  all, 
angels  waited  on  our  Blessed  Lord  when  He  was 
worn  with  His  forty  days'  fast ;  and  an  angel 
strengthened  Him  in  the  fearful  trial  of  His  agony. 

And  still  now,  day  by  day,  those  blessed  spirits 
work  among  us.  We  may  not  be  able  to  see  how 
or  when  they  help  us,  but  we  have  God's  sure 
promise  that  they  shall  do  so.1  Ever  loving,  ever 
ready  to  do  God's  Will  in  aiding  us,  ever  keen  and 
quick  of  sight  to  see  what  threatens  to  do  us 
harm,  ever  feeling  for  us,  rejoicing  in  our  repent 
ance,  trembling  when  we  are  hard  of  heart ;  who  can 
tell  what  warnings,  comforts,  inward  consolations, 
and  whispers  of  peace  we  owe  to  these  heavenly 
messengers  ? 


Ps.  xci.  ii. 


176  A    BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

There  is  no  good  in  such  high  thoughts  as  these 
unless  we  learn  to  live  the  better  lives  for  them. 

1.  Before  all  things,  then,  see  how  wonderfully 
the  love  of  God  comes  out  in  His  so  ordering  that 
angels  should  wait  upon  us.     He  might  have  kept 
us  by  His  own  power,  but  He  uses  them  to  give 
them  the  joy  of  working  for  Him.     What  love  is 
this  towards  them  ?     And  yet  more  what  love  to 
us!     Who  are  we   that   the  glorious  company   of 
heaven  should  wait  on  us — we,  with  all  our  weak 
nesses,  faults,  and  sins  ?     Yet  what  a  support  and 
comfort  it  is  to  us  to  know  that  His  Guards  are 
round  about  us  in  all  dangers  and  distresses !     Not 
only  is  the  eye  of  God  upon  us,  but  His  servants 
are  sent  to  keep  us  all  through  life,  to  guide,  to 
urge,  to  restrain  us.     Yes  !  even  in  the  last  agony 
they  will  be  with  us,  and  watch  over  our  souls  till 
they  have  borne  them  safely  to  Paradise.1 

2.  But  then,  if  the  whole  work  of  the  angels  is 
ordered  by  God  ;  if  they  work  for  Him,  come  from 
Him,  how  must  we  the  more  fix  our  hearts  with  all 
affections  on  Him  !     They  love  us  for  His  sake. 
If  we  love  Him  we  shall  have  their  care.     '  The 
Angel  of  the  Lord  tarrieth  round  about  them  that 
fear  Him.' 2     If  we  are  false  to  Him  we  shall  be 
cast  out  of  their  company.     They  can  do  nothing 
without  Him  ;  they  can  neither  know  nor  help  us. 
From  His  Face  they  gather  their  knowledge.     He 

1  St.  Luke  xvi.  22.  -  Ps.  xxxiv.  7. 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   ANGELS    177 

alone  knows  the  secrets  of  hearts  ;  the  weaknesses, 
the  temptations,  the  hidden  needs  of  each  separate 
soul.  He  alone  knows  who  have  a  claim  on  Him, 
who  look  to  Him  ;  He  alone  can  see  and  meet  the 
longings,  the  aspirations,  the  faith,  and  trust  of  the 
spirit  of  each  one  of  us. 

3.  What  a  motive  we  have  here  for  living  in 
union  with  our  Blessed  Lord !  The  angels  are 
specially  sent  to  minister  to  us  because  we  belong 
to  Him  and  bear  His  likeness.  They  remember 
how  they  waited  on  Him  in  the  weakness  of  His 
birth,  in  the  exhaustion  of  temptation  and  fasting, 
how  they  strengthened  Him  in  His  agony.  Our 
childhood  with  its  wants  and  weaknesses,  the 
soreness  of  our  struggles  against  the  Evil  One,  our 
trials  and  sorrows,  are  a  memory  of  all  that  their 
Lord  passed  through,  and  of  their  loving  ministra 
tions  to  Him.  They  see  their  King,  our  Brother, 
on  the  Throne,  and  then  speed  forth  to  serve  Him  in 
us.  One  moment  they  are  adoring  the  Blessed 
Jesus  in  His  glory,  gazing  on  that  Face  which  is 
the  Light  and  Joy  of  their  spirits,  casting  themselves 
down  in  adoration  before  that  perfect  Man  who  is 
their  God  l  ;  and  then  the  next  moment  they  come 
forth  to  wait  upon  us  who  bear  the  same  nature, 
seeing  in  us  reflections,  oh,  how  faint,  and  marred 
and  distorted !  yet  still  reflections  of  that  same 
King  and  Lord  ;  beholding  in  us  hearts  and  souls, 
1  Heb.  i.  6. 

N 


178  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

affections,  powers  of  will,  of  understanding,  like 
in  nature  to  those  which  the  Blessed  Jesus  has 
united  for  ever  to  Himself.  How  then  should  we 
cleave  to  Him !  How  should  we  seek  to  have  His 
nature  imparted  to  us  ever  more  and  more ! 

Let  us  live  more  consciously  under  the  gaze  of 
the  angel  eyes  that  are  always  scanning  us.     Think 
with  what  a  longing  for  our  perfection  they  must 
be  fixed  on  us.     How  anxiously  they  look  for  the 
features  of  the  character  of  the  true,  the  perfect,  the 
glorified  man  in  us.     Surely  of  all  the  wonders  to 
the  angels  that  must  be  the  greatest,— that  one  for 
whom  Christ  died  can  forget  Him  and  turn  the 
back  on  Him.     For  them  He  did  not  die.     He  is 
not  their  Brother.     He  does  not  bear  their  nature. 
'Verily  He  took  not  on  Him  the  nature  of  angels.' l 
No  ;  it  was  our  nature  that  He  took  upon  Himself. 
It  is  our  nature  which  He  bears,  that  we  who  share 
that  nature  with  Him  may  share  also  the  life  which 
He  has  in  Himself  as  God,  that  His  purity  may 
make  us  pure,  His  strength  be  made  perfect  in  our 
weakness.     How    the    spirits    round    His    throne 
who  never  fell  from  Him  must  wonder  at  the  love 
He  has  shown  in  redeeming  us  !     How  they  must 
mourn  over  those  who  can  neglect  such  love,  and 
despise  such  gifts.     Let  them  not  so  mourn  over 
us.     Nay,  rather  let  us  seek  our  Lord  evermore 
with  an  increasing  earnestness.     Let  us  crave  for 

1  Heb.  ii.  16. 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   ANGELS    179 

more  grace,  more  purity,  more  love  through  Him. 
Then  shall  we  be  a  joy  to  those  blessed  spirits.  As 
we  listen  and  learn  the  Will  of  God,  they  will  see 
in  us  a  growing  likeness  to  their  own  obedience. 
As  we  praise  God,  they  will  echo  our  praises  on  high. 
As  we  kneel  at  the  Altar  with  souls  hungering  after 
His  righteousness,  they  will  wonder  at  His  love 
who  feeds  us  with  Himself.  As  we  grow  in  grace 
they  will  adore  Him  on  whose  Face  they  gaze  on 
high,  for  making  us  like  Himself. 

And  thus,  as  time  passes  and  eternity  draws 
on,  we  shall  ripen  for  a  fulness  of  bliss  which  even 
they  know  not.  We  shall  be  purified  for  a  place 
amongst  those  blessed  ones,  whence  we  shall  gaze 
on  the  Father's  Face  with  them.  Yes  ;  but  for  us 
there  shall  be  this  further,  this  crowning  joy  which 
cannot  be  theirs.  We  shall  remember  eternally 
the  power  of  the  Cross  of  our  Lord.  The  theme  of 
the  new  song  that  will  be  sung  before  the  Throne 
will  be  praise  to  the  Lamb  that  was  slain  to  bring 
us  to  God.  For  ages  the  praises  of  the  angels 
whom  He  has  preserved  and  sustained  in  light  have 
been  echoing  round  His  Throne,  but  as  yet  that  one 
burst  of  grateful  joy  which  belongs  to  the  redeemed 
has  not  been  sounded  in  the  courts  of  Heaven.  It 
cannot  sound  until  the  gates  of  heaven  have  actually 
opened  to  receive  those  whom  our  Lord  has  redeemed 
with  His  precious  Blood.  Then  will  it  at  length 
swell  out,  when,  in  actual  possession  of  bliss,  the 


N  2 


i8o  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

souls  of  the  saved  shall  understand  the  fulness  of 
the  love  of  God  the  Son. 

We  must  speak  with  awe  and  trembling  when 
we  touch  on  such  a  mystery,  yet,  when  we  have 
dwelt  so  much  on  the  greatness  and  excellency  of 
the  nature  of  the  angels,  we  must  dare  to  say,  that 
even  in  the  height  of  that  bliss  which  we  may  yet 
share  with  them,  there  may  be  one  service  of 
exceeding  joy,  one  height  of  super-eminent  blessing 
reserved  for  us.  A  little  lower  than  the  angels  we 
were  made.  A  little  lower  than  the  angels  was 
our  Head,  too,  once  made,  but  He  is  now  far  above 
them,  crowned  with  Glory  and  honour,  and  in  and 
through  Him  there  is  an  honour,  a  gift  of  unspeak 
able  value  which  shall  be  ours,  such  as  even  the 
angels  cannot  share.  We  shall  have  Him  to  dwell 
in  us,  as  He  can  dwell  only  in  those  whose  very 
nature  He  bears.  He  shall  be  one  with  us,  we  shall 
be  one  with  Him.  He  shall  be  the  very  life  of  our 
being  :  Himself  within  us,  the  very  love  wherewith 
we  shall  love  God  ;  Himself,  as  it  were,  the  heart 
and  centre  of  the  whole  circle  of  redeemed  manhood, 
out  of  which  the  lifeblood  of  holiness,  and  obedience, 
and  unity,  and  all  pure  affections  shall  flow  to 
return  back  to  Himself  in  adoration  and  a  glad  and 
willing  service.  He  Himself  will  be  the  cause  of 
the  beating  of  the  pulses  of  the  Divine  life  in  every 
soul  of  man  that  has  been  knit  to  Him  for  ever. 
As  *  Christ  in  us  '  now  is  '  the  hope  of  glory,'  ]  so 
1  Col.  i.  27. 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   ANGELS     181 

'  Christ  in  us  '  then  will  be  the  height  of  the  glory 
that  man  can  attain  to.  We  could  not  have  dared 
to  think  it,  if  our  Lord  had  not  Himself  said  to  His 
Father,  '  The  glory  which  Thou  gavest  Me  I  have 
given  them  ;  that  they  may  be  one,  even  as  we  are 
One :  I  in  them,  and  Thou  in  Me,  that  they  may  be 
perfect  in  one.1  If  it  seems  too  high  for  our  thoughts 
to  grasp,  our  hopes  to  reach  to,  yet  may  He  in  His 
mighty  love,  which  fashioned  the  angels  and  can  re 
fashion  man,  grant  that  we  fall  not  short  of  that 
which  He  has  prepared  for  them  that  love  Him  ! 

R.  W.  R. 


Thy  will  be  done,  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven. 

THE  main  meaning  of  this  petition  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer  is  this  :  '  May  Thy  Will,  O  Lord,  be  done 
by  us,  who  are  of  Thy  Church  on  earth,  in  the  same 
perfect,  full,  and  cheerful  way  that  it  is  done  by 
Thy  servants  and  ministers  in  heaven.'  .  .  .  The 
prayer  is  the  prayer  of  obedience,  and  the  models  of 
obedience  are  the  Angels. 

It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  our  Lord  hereby 
teaches  us  to  think  a  good  deal  about  the  angels. 
We  cannot  forget  or  disregard  either  their  existence 
or  offices,  if  we  use  this  prayer  rightly.  It  is  given 
us  for  constant  use.  '  Whenever  we  pray '  we  are 
to  use  it  ;  so  that  the  thought  of  the  holy  angels 
and  their  obedience  is  to  be  constantly  present  to 
our  minds.  .  .  . 

1  St.  John  xvii.  22. 


182  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

The  proposing  of  angels  for  the  sole  model  of 
obedience  in  the  Lord's  Prayer,  gives  us  a  most 
exalted  notion  of  them,  and  their  perfect  submission 
and  performance  of  God's  Will ;  according  to  the 
observation  of  Hooker  :  '  As  in  number  and  order 
they  are  huge,  mighty,  and  royal  armies,  so  like 
wise  in  perfection  of  obedience  unto  that  law 
which  the  Highest,  whom  they  adore,  love,  and 
imitate,  hath  imposed  upon  them,  such  observants 
they  are  thereof,  that  our  Saviour,  being  to  set  down 
the  perfect  idea  of  that  we  are  to  pray  and  wish  for 
on  earth,  did  not  teach  to  pray  or  wish  for  more, 
than  only  that  here  it  might  be  with  us  as  with 
them  it  is  in  heaven.'  l 

We  may  then  turn  to  the  Holy  Scriptures  to 
see  what  particular  offices  and  duties  of  theirs  are 
made  known  to  us,  in  order  that  we  may  imitate 
them.  Let  us  consider  them  first  as  they  are  most 
pure  and  holy  creatures.  We  know  that  they  are 
permitted  to  encircle  the  sacred  Throne  of  God  in 
Heaven.  They  behold  the  Face  of  our  Father.  We 
read  in  the  first  book  of  Kings,  c  I  saw  the  Lord 
sitting  upon  His  throne,  and  all  the  host  of  heaven 
standing  by  Him  on  His  right  hand  and  on  His 
left.' 2 

Now  this  high  and  glorious  privilege  of  being 
present  with  God  is  the  privilege  of  purity.  '  Follow 
holiness,  without  which  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord.'  3 
Thus  purity  and  holiness  are,  as  it  were,  the  capacity 
of  seeing  God.  Wherever  God  is  to  be  seen,  the  pure 
and  holy  only  have  eyes  to  see  Him.  And  He  is  to 

1  Eccl.  Pol.  I.  iv.          2  i  Kings  xxii.  19.          3  Heb.  xii.  10. 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   ANGELS    183 

be  seen  not  only  hereafter,  in  some  more  literal 
way,  when  the  pure  on  earth  shall  be  admitted,  to 
His  presence  and  see  Him  as  He  is,  face  to  face ; 
but  even  now  in  some  manner,  through  a  glass, 
darkly  ;  whilst  those  who  thus  behold  as  in  a  glass 
His  Glory,  are  changed  by  degrees  into  the  same 
image,  from  the  glory  of  the  Church  visible,  to  the 
greater  glory  of  the  Church  invisible.1  .... 

In  several  places  in  the  Scriptures  the  angels 
are  called  by  no  other  name  than  '  His  holy  ones,' 
as  though  their  purity  and  holiness  were  the  main 
quality  of  their  nature,  and  that  which,  above  all 
things,  made  them  pleasing  and  acceptable  to  God. 
Let  us  learn  from  this,  that  it  is  by  purity  that  we 
shall  be  able  to  see  God,  even  in  the  lower  ways 
proper  to  this  imperfect  world.  We  ought  to  see 
God  in  His  works.  Therefore  it  is  by  purity  only, 
that  we  shall  be  able  to  learn  the  natural  lessons 
which  the  beauty  and  fitness  of  all  things  on  the 
earth,  and  all  the  wonderful  wisdom  and  goodness 
of  God  shown  in  the  physical  and  moral  arrange 
ments  of  the  world,  are  fit  to  teach  us. 

We  ought  to  see  Christ  in  His  Church  ;  filling, 
sanctifying,  and  glorifying  it  :  His  sufferings  in 
her  sufferings  ;  His  glory  in  her  honour  ;  His  Pre 
sence  in  her  worship  ;  His  Spirit  in  her  holiness  ; 
His  unity  in  her  peace  ;  His  children  in  her  sons  ; 
—but  we  cannot  see  it  without  purity. 

We  ought  to  discern  or  see  the  Lord's  Body  and 
Blood  in  His  blessed  Communion,  feeding  the  vital 
union  which  is  between  Him  and  us  ;  and  His  Blood 

1   i  Cor.  xiii.  12. 


184  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

in  Holy  Baptism  washing  souls  from  sin.  But  if 
our  hearts  are  impure  we  cannot  see  them.  Water, 
bread,  and  wine  are  all  that  impure  and  blinded 
hearts  can  see.  And  thus  purity  gives  eyes  to 
faith,  and  faith  apprehends  the  grace  of  Sacraments 
to  the  purifying  and  strengthening  of  souls. 

And  so  if  we  shall  win  by  the  Spirit  of  God  this 
purity,  and  thus  attain  to  a  blessed  resurrection 
from  the  dead,  we  are  to  be  as  the  pure  angels  of 
God  :  we  are  to  have  such  holy  and  immortal 
bodies,  as  shall  fit  us  to  join  their  company,  and  with 
them  to  see  the  Face  of  our  Father  which  is  in  heaven. 

What  is  meant  by  the  expression  found  in 
several  passages  of  Holy  Writ  of  the  angels  being 
'  Sons  of  God  '  ? l  Sons  they  are,  as  all  other  intelli 
gent  creatures  are,  by  creation.  This  is  the  first  and 
obvious  manner  of  sonship  ;  but  this  meaning  will 
not  account  for  the  title  of  '  Sons  of  God,'  given  to 
the  angels  distinctively,  since  it  would  not  dis 
tinguish  them  from  many  others,  to  whom  the 
same  name,  in  this  sense  of  it,  might  be  applied. 
No,  they  are  sons  of  God,  emphatically,  as  being 
good  sons,  dutiful,  obedient,  affectionate  sons  ;  sons 
who  know  their  relation  to  their  Father,  and  act 
according  to  it ;  sons  who  do  not  disgrace  their 
descent,  but  in  act,  and  spirit,  and  desire,  and  love, 
exhibit  the  lines  and  features  of  the  character  of 
their  Father,  who  imitate  because  they  love  Him, 
and  love  Him  the  more  as,  by  imitating,  they 
obtain  a  deeper  and  more  intimate  knowledge 

1  Job  i.  6  ;  xxxviii.  7. 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   ANGELS    185 

of  Him.  They  are  the  elder  brothers  of  God's 
family  :  elder  in  creation,  elder  in  obedience,  elder 
in  present  privilege  ;  elder  sons  who  are  ever  with 
Him,  and  yet  feel  no  jealousy,  but  rather  loyal  joy 
in  heaven,  when  any  of  the  younger  outcast  prodigals 
returns,  and  repents,  and  says  unto  their  common 
Father,  '  Father,  I  have  sinned  against  Thee,  and 
am  no  more  worthy  to  be  called  Thy  son.'  Thus 
they  are  sons,  and  as  sons,  objects  of  our  imitation. 
For  we  too  are  sons,  having  all  their  obligation,  and 
much  more  than  theirs,  to  love,  and  serve,  and 
imitate,  in  the  highest  spirit  of  filial  duty,  our 
Father  which  is  in  heaven. 

The  whole  opening  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  receives 
some  light  and  illustration  from  this  consideration. 
For  it  seems  as  if  the  idea  of  the  angels  may  properly 
be  introduced  to  fill  up  the  interpretation  of  all 
the  early  petitions,  in  some  such  manner  as  this : 
Our  Father,  Father  of  angels  and  men,  which  art 
surrounded  by  Thine  angels  in  heaven,  but  not  too 
high  to  behold  the  things  which  are  upon  the  earth, 
may  Thy  sacred  Name  be  hallowed  by  the  constant 
praise  and  reverence  of  all  this  Thy  visible  and 
invisible  family  :  may  Thy  Kingdom,  which  shall 
include,  not  only  Thine  innumerable  hosts  who 
already,  as  pure  creatures,  are  admitted  to  Thy 
presence,  but  also  the  quick  and  the  dead  of  the 
race  of  Adam,  shortly  be  filled  by  the  filling  up  of 
the  number  of  Thine  elect ;  and  may  we,  the  earthly, 
younger,  probationary  members  of  Thy  family,  and 
subjects  of  Thy  Kingdom,  learn  to  copy  Thy 
heavenly  ministers  in  all  love,  obedience,  and  per- 


i86  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

formance  of  Thy  Will,  which  is  our  only  law  and 
happiness.' 

Bishop  George  Moberly  (1803-1885). 


ALL  we  read  of  the  Holy  Angels  seems  intended 
to  make  us  think  of  their  perfect  obedience  and 
order.  They  have  each  their  own  place  and  station 
assigned,  in  managing  the  works  of  God,  or  in 
waiting  on  His  Church. 

Thus  we  read  of  the  angels  of  certain  elements. 
One,  having  '  power  over  fire,'  1  and  an  '  angel  of 
the  waters  ' 2  are  mentioned  in  the  book  of  Revela 
tion,  and  so  are  certain  other  angels,  whose  care 
was  to  stand  at  the  four  corners  of  the  earth,  and 
'  hold  the  four  winds  of  heaven,  that  they  might 
not  hurt  the  earth,  nor  the  sea,  nor  the  trees,' ;i 
until  the  time  that  God  had  appointed. 

The  sacred  Scriptures  teach  us  that  the  blessed 
angels  have  each  their  own  appointed  task  in  the 
several  parts  of  the  Almighty's  Kingdom,  so  the 
order  of  their  stations  and  services,  round  the 
Throne  itself  of  the  great  King,  sets  before  us  perfect 
obedience  and  order.  '  The  angels  stand  round 
about  the  throne,' 4  not  as  it  may  happen,  but  every 
one  in  his  place. 

And  such  are  the  pictures  presented  to  us  in  the 
high  and  wonderful  visions  of  St.  John,  all  of  them 
implying  the  most  complete  order  and  regularity 
in  the  heavenly  services,  so  that  the  course  of 

1  Rev.  xiv.  18.         2xvi.  5.         8  vii.  i,  3. 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   ANGELS    187 

what  is  done  in  the  Churches  of  Christ  on  earth  is 
but  a  faint  and  humble  shadow  of  what  the  spirits 
of  the  just  made  perfect  may  hope  to  witness  and 
partake. 

In  the  prophecy  of  Daniel,  again,  those  blessed 
assemblies  appear  to  be  likened,  in  some  sort,  to  the 
courts  or  judgment-seats  of  great  Kings.  '  The 
Ancient  of  days  did  sit ':  ...  thousand  thousands 
ministered  unto  Him,  and  ten  thousand  times  ten 
thousand  stood  before  Him  :  the  judgment  was  set, 
and  the  books  were  opened.' l  Now  we  know  what 
reverential  silence,  what  accurate  order,  is  expected 
to  be  observed  in  the  courts  of  kings,  and  in  solemn 
assemblies  held  in  their  presence  ;  and  this  may 
give  us  some  notion  of  the  grave  and  awful  majesty 
which  the  saints  and  glorious  spirits  continually 
maintain  in  His  Presence,  who  is  the  God  of  peace 
and  order,  not  of  confusion,  and  before  Whom  all 
are  commanded  to  keep  silence. 

Now  this  exact  order  and  perfect  obedience  of 
the  angels,  the  station  of  each  in  God's  temple,  and 
the  task  of  each  in  His  Kingdom,  has  reference, 
first,  to  the  glory  of  God  ;  next,  to  the  welfare  and 
credit  of  His  Church.  Each  angel  had  his  appointed 
place,  with  regard  both  to  Him  that  sits  on  the 
throne,  and  to  the  twenty-four  elders  and  four 
mysterious  living  creatures,  who  seem  to  be  types 
of  His  Church  and  Gospel.  So,  throughout  the 
Book  of  God,  we  find  this  double  office  assigned  to 
them  :  they  are  either  '  serving  God  day  and  night 
in  His  temple,'  or  they  are  on  their  errands  as 

1  Dan.  vii.  9. 


i88  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

ministering  spirits.  Their  holy,  devotional  hymns, 
and  prayers,  and  contemplations,  take  up  all  the 
time  which  is  not  employed  in  charitable  waiting  on 
their  brethren  of  mankind.  But  whatever  honour 
they  offer  to  God,  whatever  service  they  do  to  us 
all,  is  done  according  to  His  everlasting  law,  in  its 
own  time,  and  place,  and  measure  ;  there  is  neither 
too  much  nor  too  little  of  it ;  no  encroaching  by  one 
angel  on  the  province  of  another,  no  neglect  of  his 
own.  Now  let  us  not  imagine  that  this  angelical 
order  and  obedience  is  no  more  to  us  than  a  distant 
beautiful  vision.  It  is  both  real  itself,  and  it 
closely  touches  the  duty  of  every  one  of  us.  We 
should  make  the  angels  our  pattern,  and  as  they 
worship  and  minister,  so  should  we  try  to  do  here. 
God  is  so  gracious  as  to  set  before  us,  His  un 
worthy  creatures,  the  same  two  objects  which 
take  up  the  mind  of  His  angels.  '  Whether  we  eat 
or  drink,  or  whatsoever  we  do,'  we  are  invited  to 
do  it  all  to  God's  glory.1  And  when  we '  wait  on  the 
Lord,'  it  is  to  be  'renewed  in  our  wings  like  eagles' 2 ; 
strong  and  active  wings,  to  bear  us  any  whither, 
where  is  any  Christian  to  be  helped,  any  bad  spirit 
to  be  discouraged. 

Next,  as  the  angels  all  know  and  keep  their 
places  ;  as  the  stars  do  in  heaven,  to  which  they  are 
sometimes  likened ;  as  we  are  bidden  to  '  Lift  up  our 
eyes  on  high,  and  behold  Who  hath  created  these 
things,  that  bringeth  out  their  host  by  number  : 
He  calleth  them  all  by  names  by  the  greatness  of 
His  might,  for  that  He  is  strong  in  power ;  not  one 

1   i  Cor.  x.  31.  2  Is.  xl.  31. 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   ANGELS    189 

faileth,'  l  so  should  the  servants  of  Christ  be  ready, 
night  and  day,  and  at  all  times,  to  answer  to  their 
names,  when  He,  as  it  were,  calls  them  over,  and 
show  that  they  are  in  their  stations,  and  willing  and 
eager  to  set  about  their  appointed  tasks. 

I  say,  '  their  appointed  tasks.'  As  one  blessed 
spirit  does  not  force  himself  into  the  portion  of 
another,  but  remains  content  where  he  was  placed 
by  the  heavenly  Lord  and  Master  of  all  in  common, 
so  ought  it  to  be  in  the  Church  and  Body  of  Christ. 
Each  must  mind  his  own  work  as  each  has  to  bear 
his  own  burthen. 

Then  in  the  performance  of  that  work  we  are 
not  to  be  inventing  ways  of  our  own,  but  in  every 
thing,  small  and  great,  to  watch  for  some  sign  from 
Him :  where  His  Will  is  plain,  as  it  is,  God  be  thanked, 
in  most  matters  of  daily  duty,  there  cheerfully 
and  punctually  conforming  ourselves  to  it,  without 
asking  any  more  questions  ;  where  it  is  at  first 
doubtful,  seeking  it  as  best  we  may  with  prayer 
and  meditation  out  of  the  Scriptures  interpreted  by 
the  Church. 

This  way  of  prompt  yet  thoughtful  obedience  is 
set  before  us  by  the  psalmist,  from  the  example  of 
the  angels.  '  Praise  the  Lord,  ye  angels  of  His,  ye 
that  fulfil  His  commandments  ' — that  is,  they  do 
it  at  once  when  it  is  plain ; — '  and  hearken  unto  the 
voice  of  His  words  ' 2 ;  that  is,  they  listen  devoutly 
to  find  out  His  Will,  in  matters  where  they  do  not 
yet  know  it. 

John  Keble  (1792-1866). 

1  Is.  xl.  26.  2  Ps.  ciii.  20. 


190  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

The  eyes  of  the  Lord  run  to  and  fro  throughout  the  whole 
earth,  to  shew  themselves  strong  in  the  behalf  of  them  whose 
heart  is  perfect  toward  Him. — 2  Chron.  xvi.  9. 

THE  providence  of  God  in  the  government  of  this 
lower  world,  and  therein  especially  of  those  who  love 
and  fear  Him,  is  in  great  part  administered  by  the 
Holy  Angels  ;  these,  as  Philo  terms  them,  are  '  the 
ears  and  eyes  of  the  Universal  King.'  The  ex 
pression  alludes  to  the  government  of  earthly 
monarchs,  who  have  their  deputies  or  lieutenants  in 
all  parts  of  their  dominions  ;  who  are,  as  it  were, 
the  eyes  by  which  they  see,  and  the  hands  by  which 
they  act.  Not  as  if  God  needed  the  help  of  angels  to 
oversee  and  act  those  things  which  His  own  know 
ledge  and  power  cannot  reach  to,  for  He  is  omniscient, 
omnipresent,  omnipotent ;  but  this  is  spoken  of 
God  '  after  the  manner  of  men,'  and  must  be  under 
stood,  '  in  a  sense  becoming  the  majesty  of  God.' 
The  rulers  of  this  world  have  their  deputies  out  of 
necessity,  because  they  cannot  govern  without 
them  ;  but  the  Universal  King  hath  His  ministers 
out  of  choice,  because  He  is  pleased  for  very  good 
reasons  to  make  use  of  them. 

That  by  '  the  eyes  of  the  Lord  '  are  meant  angels 
of  God,  is  plain  enough  from  the  words  themselves, 
which  clearly  express  the  every  employment  con 
stantly  attributed  to  the  holy  angels  in  Scripture, 
of  being  sent  *  running  to  and  fro  through  the 
earth,'  to  exercise  their  power  in  the  protection 
and  security  of  good  and  upright  men. 

In  the  fourth  chapter  of  the  prophecy  of  Zech- 
ariah  we  have  a  vision  of  seven  lamps  in  a  golden 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   ANGELS     191 

candlestick.  The  interpretation  of  the  vision  is 
thus  given  :  '  Those  seven  ;  they  are  the  eyes  of  the 
Lord,  which  run  to  and  fro  throughout  the  whole 
earth.'  l  Now  what  those  seven  eyes  of  the  Lord 
are,  we  learn  clearly  from  St.  John,  where  we 
have  a  vision  of  the  Lamb,  '  having  seven  horns 
and  seven  eyes  ;  which  are  the  seven  Spirits  of  God 
sent  forth  into  all  the  earth ' 2 ;  and  those  spirits  he 
terms  '  angels.' 

Bishop  Bull. 


AN  Angel  walks  righteously  in  his  own  order  of 
perfection  ;  he  is  holy  because  God  is  Holy,  and 
merciful  in  homage  to  the  Divine  Mercy.  Loving 
the  truth,  hating  a  lie,  he  speaks  uprightly  what 
ever  word  is  put  in  his  mouth,  neither  calling  bitter 
sweet  nor  sweet  bitter.  Self  weighs  naught  with 
him,  the  equity  of  God's  perfect  Will  absorbing  his 
will  and  fulfilling  his  pleasure.  He  delights  not  in 
destruction  for  destruction's  sake,  yet  as  a  step  in 
the  equal  ways  of  God  he  delights  in  it ;  nor  does  he 
investigate  evil  for  evil's  sake,  but  rather  as  an  agent 
towards  the  bringing  in  of  Everlasting  Righteous 
ness.  Thus  he  dwelleth  on  high.  And  thus  by  grace 
we  may  dwell  below  while  we  await  the  call  to  go 
up  higher. 

Nerve  us  with  patience,  Lord,  to  toil  or  rest, 
Toiling  at  rest  on  our  allotted  level ; 
Unsnared,  unscared  by  world  or  flesh  or  devil, 

Fulfilling  the  good  Will  of  Thy  behest ; 
1  Zech.  iv.  2,  10.  "  Rev.  v.  6. 


192  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

Not  careful  here  to  hoard,  not  here  to  revel ; 
But  waiting  for  our  treasure  and  our  zest 
Beyond  the  fading  splendour  of  the  west, 

Beyond  this  death-struck  life  and  deathlier  evil. 
Not  with  the  sparrow  building  here  a  house  : 

But  with  the  swallow  tabernacling  so 

As  still  to  poise  alert  to  rise  and  go 
On  eager  wings  with  wing-outspeeding  wills 
Beyond    earth's    gourds    and    past    her   almond 
boughs, 

Past  utmost  bound  of  the  everlasting  hills. 

Christina  Rossetti. 


CHAPTER  IX 

Ube  Conception  of  Bnaels  as  TRepresenteD 
in  Htt 


What  if  earth 

Be  but  the  shadow  of  Heaven,  and  things  therein 
Each  to  other  like,  more  than  on  earth  is  thought  ? 

MILTON 

And  in  this  twofold  sphere,  the  twofold  man 

(For  still  the  artist  is  intensely  a  man) 

Holds  firm  by  the  natural,  to  reach 

The  spiritual  beyond  it, — fixes  still 

The  type  with  mortal  vision,  to  pierce  through 

With  eyes  immortal,  to  the  anti-type 

Some  call  the  ideal, — better  called  the  real, 

And  certain  to  be  called  so  presently 

When  things  shall  have  their  names. 

E,  B.  BROWNING. 


AN   ANGEL. 

(Pinturiaehiy.  I 


Conception  of  Hnaete  as  IRepresentefc 
inHrt 


To  consider  the  bearing  of  Art  or  Literature  upon 
the  subject  of  the  Holy  Angels,  is  to  pass  on,  for  a 
while,  from  the  revelation  of  God,  to  take  account 
of  the  issue  of  that  revelation  in  the  world  around. 
It  is  to  pause,  and  look  back  down  the  ages,  and 
see  how  far  the  knowledge  God  has  given  him  has 
affected  man  :  to  what  extent  he  has  made  the 
truths  revealed  to  him,  his  own.  It  is  to  watch  the 
gradual  development  of  an  idea,  as  the  early  con 
ceptions  have  been  modified  or  elaborated,  and 
advancing  civilisation  has  given  fresh  power  of 
expression.  It  is  to  stand,  too,  at  the  centre  of  a 
great  and  ever-widening  circle  of  influence  :  one 
which  has  stood  the  test  of  time  and  comes  to  us 
with  all  the  power  of  a  voice  from  the  past,  enriched 
with  all  the  treasures  of  an  age  of  simpler  faith. 
An  influence  which  has  met  and  uplifted  thousands 
of  God's  creatures,  '  of  all  nations,  and  kindreds, 
and  people,  and  tongues.'  An  influence  which,  in 
the  dark  ages  of  the  history  of  Christendom,  alone 
stood  for  purity  and  truth  ;  keeping,  as  it  were,  a 


O  2 


196  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

little  space  of  clear,  free  air,  amid  the  blinding, 
stifling  fumes  of  lust,  and  violence,  and  sensuality. 
Literature  and  Art  have  gone  hand  in  hand.  Art, 
at  one  time,  seems  but  the  shadow  cast  by  the 
bright  light  of  Literature.  At  another,  she  rises 
above  all  that  has  gone  before:  kindling  new  fire 
among  the  smouldering  embers  of  a  dying  tradition  ; 
clothing  an  old  thought  in  a  new  garment ;  showing 
the  other  side  of  a  loved  truth  which  looked  to  have 
one  aspect  only  ;  and  sweeping  away  the  dust  of 
error  and  superstition,  reveals  again  the  narrow, 
almost  obliterated  pathway  of  Divine  Light.  Litera 
ture  and  Art  are,  to  a  great  extent,  mutually 
dependent ;  but  their  sphere  of  influence  is  very 
different.  The  door  of  Literature  can  only  be 
unlocked  by  the  key  of  scholarship.  Art  has  a 
message  for  all,  and  her  voice  is  oftentimes  more 
clearly  heard  when  the  power  of  criticism  is  absent ; 
the  deep  signification  may  be  lost  if  undue  heed  be 
paid  to  her  tones  and  her  accents.  Nature  has 
shown  her  nothing  new ;  but  new  beauty  in  that 
which  was  well  known :  new  riches  where  none 
thought  of  looking  for  them.  And  she  takes  them 
all  and  treasures  them — not  for  herself  ;  but  that 
the  Divinely-implanted  longing  of  the  human  soul 
to  live  above  the  present  and  the  material,  may 
have  somewhat  to  rest  upon  ;  for  she  recognises  no 
line  of  demarcation  between  the  natural  and  the 
supernatural :  both  are  alike  wonderful,  incompre- 


ANGELS   AS   REPRESENTED   IN   ART     197 

hensible :  she  does  not  attempt  to  explain  either ; 
nay,  rather,  by  dwelling  upon  them  she  only  in 
creases  and  intensifies  their  mystery.  The  bodily 
sense  which  presents  to  the  mind  the  mysteries  of 
nature,  and  the  spiritual  perception  which  sees 
*  God  in  every  common  bush,'  and  finds  nothing 
unnatural  in  the  world  of  spirits,  are  both  alike  the 
gift  of  God, — the  one  a  stepping-stone  to  the  other. 
Both,  it  may  be,  catch  only  a  glimpse  of  the  hem  of 
the  garment  of  God,  but  it  is  this  that  gives  such 
force  and  power  to  the  voice  of  Art,  and  awakens  a 
corresponding  throb  in  the  hearts  of  all  to  whom 
she  speaks,  and  quickens  every  pulse  as  the  over 
whelming,  though,  perhaps,  unconscious  conviction 
is  brought  home,  that  man  is  something  less  than 
he  took  himself  to  be  and  that  God  is  something 
more. 

'  The  work  of  Fine  Art  is  to  minister  to  the 
spiritual  life  of  those  who  seek  it.'  In  one  sense 
Art  has  a  higher  mission  than  Nature.  Art  is  the 
interpretation  of  Nature.  '  Nature  with  humanity 
superadded,  and  thus  bringing  with  it  the  human 
idea  of  Nature's  beauty,  it  helps  us  by  the  power  of 
an  unconscious  sympathy  to  perceive  what  other 
wise  would  have  passed  unheeded.  .  .  .  The  spirit 
of  beauty,  whether  enshrined  in  material  or  moral 
form,  the  beauty  of  strength  or  weakness,  the  beauty 
of  reality  or  idea,  all  come  from  the  same  source 
whence  our  own  nature  itself  has  come,  and  has 


198  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

been  endowed  with  power  to  feel  and  to  compre 
hend  it.' l  Imagination,— the  power  by  which  beauty, 
whether  of  form  and  colour,  or  of  thought  and 
idea,  is  recognised  and  acknowledged — caught  up 
into  the  very  being,  is  no  wayward,  irresponsible 
possession  ;  but  a  God-given  faculty  dominated  by 
faith  and  reason  ;  and  provided  faith  and  reason 
are  preserved  true  and  clear,  the  spiritual  percep 
tion  of  the  imagination  is  unerring  ;  and  only  in  so 
far  as  Art  is  true  to  this  ideal  has  she  any  lasting 
influence.  The  true  function  of  the  imagination  is 
not  a  creative  but  a  responsive  one.  It  is  the 
power  of  grasping,  unravelling,  laying  hold  of, 
what  is  ;  rather  than  the  disposition  to  dwell  upon 
what  is  not.  '  Its  work  is  no  vague  dream.  .  .  . 
When  not  marred  and  darkened  by  an  evil  will,  it 
is  a  Divinely-constituted  means  of  spiritual  intelli 
gence,  illuminating  mortal  sense  from  the  fountain 
of  immortality.  .  .  .  Imagination  is  that  great 
faculty  by  which  the  soul  ascends  to  the  con 
templation  of  the  Divine  Nature,  and  listens  to 
that  Voice  which  is  in  the  stillness  of  the  uni 
verse.'  2  Possessed  in  degree  by  all ;  it  is  the 
individual  refutation  of  the  trend  of  modern  scepti 
cism  that  c  the  things  which  are  not  seen  ' — are 
not. 

The  first  trace  of  the  representation  of  Angels  in 
Art  comes  from  the  history  of  the  setting  up  of  the 

1  T.  Gambler  Parry:  Ministry  of  Fine  Art,  p.  35.         2  Ib.  p.  44, 


ANGELS   AS   REPRESENTED   IN   ART     199 

Tabernacle  in  the  wilderness.1     Two  small  Cherubim 
of  beaten  gold  were  placed  one  at  either  end  of  the 
mercy  seat  which  rested  upon  the  ark  of  the  covenant 
of  the  Lord.     Cherubim  were  also  interwoven  or 
embroidered   upon   the   curtains   and   veil   of   the 
Tabernacle.     Josephus  says,    '  No  one  can  tell  or 
even  conjecture  of  what  shape  the  cherubim  were.' 
The  Cherubim,  both  of  the  Tabernacle  and  of  Solo 
mon's  Temple,  had  apparently  two  wings ;  and  those 
of  Solomon's  Temple  '  stood  on  their  feet.'    Nothing 
more  is  known.     It  may  be  they  corresponded  with 
similar  conceptions  of  other  races,  and  that  the  idea 
was  suggested  by  the  winged  bulls  of  Assyria,  or 
the  winged  figures  of  Egypt  or  the  countries  adjoin 
ing  Palestine  ;  although  it  seems  scarcely  possible, 
considering  the  prominent  place  the  cherubim  held 
in  Hebrew  worship,  that  they  were  borrowed  from 
a    heathen    source.     Also,   the    theory    that    they 
belonged  to  a  national  idea  and  survived  as  one  of 
the  traces  of  a  Hebrew  mythology,  based  on  the 
ground  that  they  were  designed  and  made  without 
any    conscious   infringement    of    the   second   com 
mandment,    seems    inadequate ;    for,   even    if    the 
commandment  bore,  at  that  time,  the  literal  inter 
pretation  which  was  afterwards  placed  upon  it,  the 
cherubim,   of  whatever  form,   were   a  likeness   of 
things    4in    heaven    above.'      Prevailing    opinion 
favours  the  view  that  they  were  human  figures  with 

1  Exodus  xxv.  1 8. 


200  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

the  addition  of  wings,  and  that  the  human  form  was 
consecrated  thus  early  to  the  representation  of 
angels  in  Art.  But  the  tradition  is  lost.  Solomon's 
Temple  contained  in  the  Holy  of  Holies  two  colossal 
Cherubim,  probably  copied  from  those  of  the 
Tabernacle,  with  the  difference  of  material,  size,  and 
change  of  position.  The  Cherubim  over  the  ark  are 
described  in  an  attitude  of  reverent  adoration. 
Solomon's  Cherubim  stood  with  outstretched  wings 
apparently  facing  the  entrance.  '  Possibly  the 
change  of  attitude  of  the  cherubim  in  the  Temple 
denoted  a  change  of  idea  characteristic  of  Solomon 
and  his  age  ;  the  old  attitude  is  clearly  that  of 
worship  of  God  :  the  new,  rather  of  manifestation 
of  His  glory  to  man.' l  Carved  figures  of  Cherubim 
were  also  introduced  into  the  decoration  of  the  walls 
of  the  Temple.  The  Hebrews  were  never  great  in  Art. 
The  artistic  work  of  the  Tabernacle  was  designed 
and  carried  out  by  Hebrew  craftsmen  :  but  that  was 
early  in  the  nation's  history ;  before  the  skill  acquired 
by  the  Egyptian  training  and  influence  had  passed 
away.  Later,  King  Solomon  employed  foreigners 
for  the  Temple  work,  for  there  were  none  among 
them  that  could  '  skill  to  hew  timber  like  unto  the 
Sidonians.' 2 

The  command  for  the  execution  of  the  Cherubim 
of  the  Tabernacle  sets  forth  the  whole  purpose  of 

1  Right  Rev.  Alfred  Barry,  in  Bishop  Ellicott's  Commentary. 

2  I  Kings  v.  6. 


ANGELS   AS   REPRESENTED   IN  ART     201 

God  for  Art,  and  has  a  manifest  bearing  upon  the 
subject  of  Art  and  Worship.  It  is  as  though — in 
view  of  the  interpretation  which  the  narrow  literal 
ism  of  the  days  of  Hebrew  degeneracy  placed  upon 
the  second  commandment,  until  it  passed  into  an 
absolute  prohibition  of  the  arts  of  painting  and 
sculpture — God  stretched  forth  His  Hand  and  lifted 
up  His  Voice  ;  that  in  the  almost  solitary  record  of 
Hebrew  figure-work  men  might  learn  the  mind  of 
God  ;  and  that  the  words  '  Thou  shalt  make  two 
cherubim  '  might  echo  down  the  ages  as  the  Divine 
authority  for  the  representation  of  angels  in  Art. 
Further,  Art  was  the  means  chosen  by  God  to  teach 
the  truths  of  the  invisible  world.  The  cherubim 
were  unseen  as  that  world  itself,  except  by  the  High 
Priest,  on  rare  occasions.  The  ark  signified  the 
very  Presence  of  God.  The  Cherubim — it  is  the 
thought  of  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
—contributed  to  the  Glory  of  God.  The  Israelite 
could  picture  his  God  dwelling  between  the  Cheru 
bim  ;  and  how  often,  in  his  undisciplined  life,  must 
the  thought  of  the  Cherubim  in  perpetual  adoration 
have  awakened,  or  recalled  him  to  a  sense  of  what 
true  worship  and  reverence  are.  This  was  the  first 
office  of  Art  in  the  Church  of  God,  and  Art  was 
thereby  sanctified  for  ever  to  the  service  of  God. 
Again,  the  artists  or  craftsmen  chosen  for  the  work 
are  described  as  men  whom  God  had  c  filled  with  the 
spirit  of  God,  in  wisdom,  and  in  understanding,  and 


202  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

in  knowledge,  and  in  all  manner  of  workmanship,' l 
in  striking  contrast  to  the  thought  and  language  of 
the  present  day.  It  is  a  plea  for  special  fitness  for 
any  work  destined  to  be  used  to  the  glory  of  God 
in  the  service  of  His  Church.  It  is  a  plea  for  a  place 
for  Art  in  religion  ;  for  the  recognition  of  the  true 
relationship  between  Religion  and  Art.  An  English 
resident  in  Japan  writes  :  *  The  church  is  an  ex 
tremely  ugly  building,  at  best.  Seeing  how  magni 
ficent  the  Japanese  temples  are,  and  the  infinite 
amount  of  care  which  goes  to  the  construction 
of  the  humblest  of  them,  I  hardly  wonder  that 
it  is  found  a  hard  thing  to  convert  the  Japanese 
people  to  our  own  faith.'  The  Japanese  is  not 
at  fault  in  his  conception  of  God  as  a  God  of 
beauty. 

To  pass  on  to  the  Christian  era.  The  early 
heresies  of  the  Church,  and  the  prevalence  of  angel- 
worship  in  the  early  days  of  Christianity,  led  to  the 
prohibition  of  the  representation  of  angels  in  Art : 
even  the  naming  of  angels  was  forbidden  :  hence  the 
first  three  centuries  and  the  early  part  of  the  fourth 
have  left  no  trace  of  any  figure  which  might  be 
taken  to  represent  an  angel.  It  was  maintained 
at  the  Second  Council  of  Nicaea  '  that  angels  have 
the  human  form  and  may  be  so  represented,' 2 
and  in  the  earliest  examples  of  Christian  Art  the 
human  form  is  used.  The  earliest  figures  of  angels 
1  Ex.  xxxi.  3.  '-  Mrs.  Jameson  :  Sacred  and  Legendary  Art. 


ANGELS   AS  REPRESENTED   IN   ART     203 

believed  to  exist  are  those  of  the  mosaics  in  the 
Church  of  Santa  Agata  at  Ravenna  (A.D.  400). 
The  figures  are  winged,  of  colossal  proportions,  and 
are  represented  with  kingly  attributes.  In  early 
Art  the  angels  were  draped  :  at  first  in  the  classical 
tunic  and  pallium,  and  later  in  the  alb  and  stole  ; 
or  as  princes  in  embroidered  robes  and  jewelled 
crowns ;  and  this  idea  prevailed  down  to  the  end  of 
the  tenth  century.  From  the  eleventh  to  the 
thirteenth  century  the  Byzantine  influence  every 
where  predominated,  and  the  figures  were  conven 
tional  and  richly  draped.  The  fourteenth  century 
was  the  dawn  of  the  glorious  day  of  the  fifteenth, 
sixteenth,  and  seventeenth  centuries  ;  and  the  three 
hundred  years — from  the  time  of  Giotto  in  the 
fourteenth  century  to  the  time  of  Guido  and  Rem 
brandt  in  the  seventeenth — have  left  us  angels 
which,  for  greatness  of  conception  and  execution, 
have  never  been  equalled  in  any  age,  and  are 
never  likely  to  be  surpassed. 

It  is  impossible  in  a  single  chapter  to  give  any 
thing  in  the  nature  of  a  critical  survey  of  this 
particular  branch  of  Art :  such  an  attempt  could 
hardly  rise  above  the  level  of  an  annotated  cata 
logue.  It  is  enough  to  refer  to  Mrs.  Jameson's 
*  Sacred  and  Legendary  Art,'  where  the  whole  sub 
ject  is  dealt  with  by  one  who  was  in  a  position  to 
give  an  opinion.  We  all  have  our  friends  among 
these  masterpieces.  Probably  every  thought  sug- 


204  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

••» 

gested  in  these  pages  recalls  to  the  mind  some  repre 
sentation  in  Art :  seen  long  ago,  it  may  be,  and 
well-nigh  forgotten,  but  living  yet ;  and  Art  is 
doing  her  silent  work  through  the  agency  of  the 
memory.  And  it  is  among  the  names  of  Correggio, 
Michael  Angelo,  and  Botticelli ;  of  Fra  Angelico  and 
Fra  Filippo  Lippi ;  of  Raphael,  and  Titian,  and  many 
others,  that  the  memory  dwells  :  for,  it  is  worthy 
of  note,  the  work  to  which  we  turn  for  the  testimony 
of  Art  to  the  reality  of  the  angel-world  is  the  work, 
and  the  best  work,  of  the  great  masters  in  Art. 
Religious  Art,  properly  so  called,  is  no  side-issue  of 
Art.  The  history  of  the  development  of  Art  along 
the  line  of  revelation  is  the  history  of  all  that  is 
best  in  Art ;  a  witness  to  the  truth  that  here,  as 
in  all  else,  man  is  made  for  God,  and  can  find  no 
rest  until  he  rest  in  Him.  Pictorial  Art,  as  we  know 
it,  is  the  outcome  of  the  revival  of  the  Fine  Arts  in 
the  early  middle  ages,  when  '  the  first,  and  for  several 
ages  the  only,  impress  they  received  was  that  of  the 
religious  spirit  of  the  time.  Painting,  sculpture, 
music,  and  architecture,  as  they  emerged  one  after 
another  from  the  "  formless  void,"  were  pressed  into 
the  service  of  the  Church.  .  .  .  The  first  great 
object  to  which  reviving  Art  was  destined,  was  to 
render  the  Christian  places  of  worship  a  theatre  of 
instruction  and  improvement  for  the  people.' l  The 
artists  of  the  early  middle  ages  worked  upon  the 
Mrs.  Jameson:  Sacred  and  Legendary  Art. 


ANGELS  AS   REPRESENTED   IN   ART     205 

v 

walls  of  their  churches  with  the  primary  object  of 
setting  forth  an  idea.  The  subject  was  paramount ; 
artistic  effect  little  considered.  They  *  worked  for 
earnestness  of  expression  rather  than  for  power  of 
effect.  Their  accessories,  chosen  to  aid  the  com 
position  or  to  explain  the  subject,  were  few,  and 
those  commonly  rather  symbolical  than  real.  ... 
It  was  the  representation  rather  of  the  artist's 
thought  than  the  attempt  to  realise  a  scene.  The 
design  sufficed  to  illustrate  the  story.  It  was 
hampered  by  no  detail.  Its  motive  and  sentiment 
were  impressed  upon  it — and  then  the  imaginations 
of  the  multitude  were  left  to  wander  about  it  unim 
peded  and  undisturbed.  Such  was  the  work  of 
those  times.' 1 

The  artists  of  the  early  middle  ages  worked 
because  they  had  something  to  say,  and  they  said 
it  in  a  way  '  easy  to  be  understood.'  The  import 
ance  of  this  point  cannot  be  over-estimated  : — 

(1)  In  determining  the  historical  value  of  Art 
as  a  commentary  upon  Holy  Writ  and  as  an  index 
to  the  faith  and  traditions  of  the  Church ;  and,  in 
this  case,  the  value  of  the  testimony  borne  by  Art 
to  the  universal  belief  of  the  Church  in  the  office  and 
work  of  the  angels. 

(2)  In  considering  this  period  as  the  parent  of 
the  Renaissance,  the  great  age  of  Expression,  and 
cultivated  Art. 

1  T,  Gambler  Parry  :  Ministry  of  Fine  Art,  p.  324. 


206  A  BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

And  there  is  no  theme  that  Christian  Art, 
whether  of  the  Renaissance  or  of  earlier  times,  has 
better  loved  to  dwell  upon  than  that  of  the  ministry 
of  the  Holy  Angels.  The  challenge  to  the  imagina 
tion  given  in  the  Bible  record  has  received  a  mighty 
and  a  fearless  answer  at  the  hand  of  Art.  She  tells 
of  angels  around  the  very  throne  of  God,  occupied 
in  ceaseless  worship  of  God.  Dante  has  given 
expression  to  this  thought  in  his  beautiful  '  Our 
Father  '  of  the  faithful  departed : — 

'  Of  their  will,  the  Angels  unto  Thee 
Tender  meet  sacrifice,  circling  Thy  Throne 
With  loud  hosannas.' l 

Sometimes  the  form  is  human,  winged.  At  others, 
as  in  representations  of  the  Glorification  of  the 
Holy  Trinity,  of  our  Lord,  or  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
when  hierarchies  of  angels  are  shown  in  circles 
round ;  the  Seraphim  and  Cherubim — those  nearest 
to  God — are  depicted  under  the  figure  of  a  head 
only  ;  with  two,  four,  or  six  wings,  '  intended  to 
shadow  forth  to  human  comprehension  a  pure 
spirit,  glowing  with  love  and  intelligence,  in  which 
all  that  is  bodily  is  put  away,  and  only  the  head, 
the  seat  of  soul,  and  wings  the  attribute  of  spirit, 
retained.'  And  as  we  mark  their  distinguishing 
colours,  the  flaming  red  of  the  Seraphim — nearest  to 
God,  and  the  more  sober  blue  of  the  Cherubim,  we 

1  PuYgt  canto  xi. 


ANGELS   AS  REPRESENTED   IN  ART     207 

hear  the  voice  of  Art  whisper,  '  To  love  is  greater 
than  to  know.'  Or  the  scene  is  changed  to  the 
Altar  Throne  below  ;  and  in  the  centre  of  the  Worship 
of  the  *  whole  Church  '  the  Angels  kneel  in  reverent 
adoration  of  the  Lamb  of  God  :  and  we  realise  more 
fully  the  exceeding  blessedness  of  that  common 
worship  '  with  Angels  and  Archangels.'  Or  the 
imagination  moves  along  the  Gospel  story  ;  and  the 
reverent  awe  of  the  Angel  of  the  Annunciation  calls 
upon  us  to  pause  and  ponder  the  mystery  of  the 
Incarnation.  The  rejoicing  Angels  of  the  Nativity 
bid  us  rejoice  too.  The  Angel  of  Gethsemane  tells 
of  support  in  the  hour  of  trial ;  and,  as  he  bears  the 
cup  of  sorrow  and  the  symbols  of  the  Passion,  with 
the  hand  raised  in  benediction,  suggests  the  thought 
that  the  angels  know  to  the  full  the  blessedness  of 
suffering  ;  that,  maybe,  they  look  upon  our  sorrows 
beforehand  as  we  look  upon  them  after,  and  so  are 
enabled  to  be  God's  ministers  still,  for  good,  or 
seeming  ill.  Or  we  are  led  between  the  lines  of 
Holy  Scripture,  and  the  Angels  of  the  Baptism  are 
in  lowly  attendance  upon  the  beloved  Son  of  God — 
kneeling,  where  others  stand  ;  and  the  Angels  of 
the  Crucifixion  are  represented  in  eager  anxiety  to 
make  reparation  for  the  sin  of  man  ;  to  supply  what 
is  wanting  in  the  love  of  man.  Or  the  scene  changes 
again  to  the  present  ministry  of  the  holy  angels, 
and  we  find  ourselves  watched  over  and  guarded 
here  below  ;  presented  before  the  Throne  by  the 


2o8  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

hand  of  the  holy  angels  hereafter.  Such  is  the 
testimony  of  Art.  The  angels  of  Michael  Angelo 
and  Raphael,  of  Angelico  and  Filippo  Lippi,  are  real 
beings  ;  engaged  in  a  definite  work  of  worship  or 
service  :  in  contradistinction  to  much  of  the  work 
of  the  present  day,  where  an  angel  is  so  often 
introduced  solely  for  the  decorative  value  of  a  pair 
of  wings.  Ruskin  says,  speaking  of  early  Christian 
Art :  '  There  is  a  certain  confidence  in  the  way  in 
which  angels  trust  to  their  wings,  very  character 
istic  of  an  age  of  bold  and  simple  conception. 
Modern  science  has  taught  us  that  a  wing  cannot 
anatomically  be  joined  to  a  shoulder,  and  in  pro 
portion  as  painters  approach  more  and  more  to  the 
scientific  as  distinguished  from  the  contemplative 
state  of  mind,  they  put  the  wings  of  their  angels  on 
more  timidly,  and  dwell  with  greater  emphasis  upon 
the  human  form  with  less  upon  the  wings,  until 
these  last  become  a  species  of  decorative  appendage, 
a  mere  sign  of  an  angel.' :  This  may  be ;  but  the 
root  lies  somewhat  deeper.  Modern  work  does  not 
carry  the  same  conviction  because  the  same  con 
viction  is  not  behind  it.  Of  the  great  masters  of 
the  Renaissance,  Michael  Angelo,  Botticelli,  and  Fra 
Bartolommeo  at  least,  were  inspired  by  the  time, 
and  worked  under  the  influence  of  Savonarola. 
The  Art  of  the  early  middle  ages  emanated  from 
the  cloister,  whither  all  learning  and  Art  had  been 
1  Quoted  by  Mrs.  Jameson. 


ANGELS   AS   REPRESENTED    IN   ART     209 

driven.  It  was  saturated  with  religious  feeling. 
Sincerity  of  thought  rather  than  power  of  expression 
was  its  distinguishing  feature  ;  and  as  it  advanced, 
and  the  laws  of  Art  were  unfolded,  and  the  glories 
of  Nature  laid  bare,  the  love  of  truth  was  not  lost, 
but  intensified,  and  expanded,  until  it  embraced 
both  Nature  and  Art ;  and  this  adherence  to  the 
truth  of  Nature,  and  submission  to  the  laws  of  Art, 
is  the  secret  of  the  work  of  the  Renaissance.  The 
Impressionist  school,  great  as  it  is  in  the  promotion 
of  unconventional  freedom  of  expression,  has  its 
dangers  in  the  sacrifice  of  truth  to  effect.  Art  is 
learning  to  serve  herself  ;  not  God.  The  laws  of 
Nature  and  the  laws  of  Art  are  the  laws  of  God, 
the  Great  Art  Critic ;  Whose  own  works  defy 
criticism  and  challenge  comprehension. 

Faith  was  the  mainspring  of  the  Art  of  earlier 
times.  It  is  sufficiently  *  of  man,'  and  produced  so 
manifestly  under  the  influence  of  the  age  which 
called  it  forth,  as  to  warrant  our  rejection  of  all 
that  is  superstitious.  But  all  that  is  c  of  God  '  will 
live,  as  an  instrument  in  the  Hand  of  God  ;  if  not  in 
substance,  yet  in  influence  and  in  memory  ;  it  may 
be — who  can  tell  ?  as  long  even  as  the  Word  of 
God  ; — for  ever. 

And  this  testimony  of  Art  is  the  return  of  Art 
to  God.  It  is  something,  in  an  age  of  scepticism 
and  infidelity,  to  find,  in  the  Art  of  past  ages,  such 
unmistakeable  witness  borne  to  the  reality  of  the 


210  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

unseen  world.  It  is  something  to  number  the 
*  Annunciation '  of  Rossetti  amongst  the  nation's 
treasures  of  contemporary  Art ;  to  see  in  the  work 
of  Burne- Jones,  G.  F.  Watts,  and  F.  Shields,  an 
indication  that  Art  is  still  not  wholly  unmindful 
of  '  the  deep  things  of  God '  ;  and  to  remember,  as 
we  call  to  mind  work  which  bears  no  such  honoured 
name,  that  there  are  others,  away  from  the  great 
high-road  of  Art,  working  with  no  less  earnestness 
of  purpose,  bearing  a  witness  not  less  true.  Lord ! 
for  our  forgetfulness,  our  unbelief,  our  carelessness ; 
accept  this  our  remembrance  and  use  it  to  Thy 
glory. 

'  The  foundation  of  all  Fine  Art  lies  in  that 
relationship  which  exists  between  the  things  of 
material  and  the  things  of  spirit ;  and  the  degree 
of  its  perception  and  the  power  of  its  use  is  the 
gauge  of  all  Art's  genius.  By  force  of  that  relation 
ship  Fine  Art  testifies  to  that  Divine  life  which 
underlies  the  whole  sphere  of  man's  mortal  state. 
She  testifies  to  the  utter  inadequacy  of  all  material 
things  to  measure  the  range,  or  to  satisfy  the  aspira 
tions,  of  that  which  is  itself  illimitable—the  human 
soul.  She  is  herself  that  soul's  interpreter.  Her 
greatest  works  are  but  symbols.  She  is  conscious 
of  her  own  feebleness,  and  of  those  impenetrable 
clouds  which  dim  her  mortal  sight.  But  she  is 
conscious  also  of  that  light  which  shines  beyond 
those  clouds  ;  and  by  an  impulse  of  desire  and  faith 


ANGELS   AS   REPRESENTED   IN   ART     211 

she  stretches  out  her  arms  to  the  heavens,  and, 
silent,  she  binds  around  her  lovely  brow  this  motto  : 
"  What  is  not  seen  is  eternal." ' 1 

E.  M.  H. 


Is  music  the  inarticulate 
Speech  of  the  Angels  on  earth  ? 

Or  the  voice  of  the  undiscovered 
Bringing  great  truths  to  the  birth  ? 

F.  W.  FABER. 


LET  us  take  an  instance  of  an  outward  and  earthly 
form,  or  economy,  under  which  great  wonders 
unknown  seem  to  be  typified ;  I  mean  musical 
sounds,  as  they  are  exhibited  most  perfectly  in 
instrumental  harmony.  There  are  seven  notes  in 
the  scale  ;  make  them  fourteen  ;  yet  what  a  slender 
outfit  for  so  vast  an  enterprise !  What  science 
brings  so  much  out  of  so  little  ?  Out  of  what  poor 
elements  does  some  great  master  in  it ,  create  his 
new  world !  Shall  we  say  that  all  this  exuberant 
inventiveness  is  a  mere  ingenuity  or  trick  of  art,  like 
some  game  or  fashion  of  the  day,  without  reality, 
without  meaning  ?  We  may  do  so ;  and  then, 
perhaps,  we  shall  also  account  the  science  of  theology 
to  be  a  matter  of  words  ;  yet  as  there  is  a  divinity 
in  the  theology  of  the  Church,  which  those  who  feel 
cannot  communicate,  so  is  there  also  in  the  wonder 
ful  creation  of  sublimity  and  beauty  of  which  I  am 
speaking. 

To  many  men  the  very  names  which  the  science 

1  T.  Gambier  Parry  :  Ministry  of  Fine  Art,  p.  362. 

p  2 


212  A   BOOK  OF  ANGELS 

employs  are  utterly  incomprehensible.  To  speak 
of  an  idea  or  a  subject  seems  to  be  fanciful  or 
trifling,  and  of  the  views  which  it  opens  upon  us 
to  be  childish  extravagance  ;  yet  is  it  possible  that 
the  inexhaustible  evolution  and  disposition  of 
notes,  so  rich,  so  simple,  so  intricate,  yet  so  regu 
lated,  so  various  yet  so  majestic,  should  be  a  mere 
sound,  which  is  gone  and  perishes  ? 

Can  it  be  that  those  mysterious  stirrings  of  heart, 
and  keen  emotions,  and  strange  yearnings  after  we 
know  not  what,  and  awful  impressions  from  we 
know  not  whence,  should  be  wrought  in  us  by  what 
is  unsubstantial,  and  comes  and  goes,  and  begins 
and  ends  in  itself  ?  It  is  not  so  ;  it  cannot  be. 
No  ;  they  have  escaped  from  some  higher  sphere  ; 
they  are  outpourings  of  eternal  harmony  in  the 
medium  of  created  sound  ;  they  are  echoes  from 
our  Home  ;  they  are  the  voice  of  Angels  or  the 
Magnificat  of  Saints,  or  the  living  laws  of  Divine 
Governance,  or  the  Divine  Attributes  ;  something 
are  they  beside  themselves,  which  we  cannot  com 
pass,  which  we  cannot  utter, — though  mortal  man, 
and  he  perhaps  not  otherwise  distinguished  above 
his  fellows,  has  the  gift  of  eliciting  them. 

/.  H.  Newman  (1801-1890). 


THE  angels  are  the  Choristers  of  Heaven.  Theirs 
is  the  privilege  to  sound  that  hymn  of  praise  which 
goes  up  from  this  boundless  and  harmonious  uni 
verse  of  suns,  and  stars,  and  worlds,  and  rejoicing 


ANGELS   AS   REPRESENTED   IN   ART     213 

creatures,   towards   the   God   who   created   them  : 
theirs  is  the  music  of  the  spheres — 

1  They  sing,  and  singing  in  their  glory  move ' ; 

they  tune  divine  instruments,  named  after  those  of 
earth's  harmonies — 

*  The  harp,  the  solemn  pipe 
And  dulcimer,  all  organs  of  sweet  stop, 
All  sounds  on  fret  by  string  or  golden  wire, 

And  with  songs 

And  choral  symphonies,  day  without  night, 
Circle  His  throne  rejoicing.'  1 

Mrs.  Jameson. 


SONG  OF  AN  ANGEL. 

Ax  noon  a  shower  had  fallen,  and  the  clime 
Breathed  sweetly,  and  upon  a  cloud  there  lay 
One  more  sublime  in  beauty  than  the  Day, 

Or  all  the  sons  of  Time. 

A  gold  harp  had  he,  and  was  singing  there 
Songs  that  I  yearned  to  hear  ;  a  glory  shone 
Of  rosy  twilights  on  his  cheeks — a  zone 

Of  amaranth  on  his  hair. 

He  sang  of  joys  to  which  the  earthly  heart 
Hath  never  beat ;  he  sang  of  deathless  Youth, 
And  by  the  throne  of  Love,  Beauty  and  Truth 

Meeting,  no  more  to  part ; 

1  Paradise  Lost,  Bk.  vii.  595. 


214  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

He  sang  lost  Hope,  faint  Faith,  and  vain  Desire 
Crown'd  there ;   great  works  that  on  the  earth 

began, 
Accomplish' d  ;  towers  impregnable  to  man 

Scaled  with  the  speed  of  fire ; 

Of  Power  and  Life,  and  winged  Victory 

He  sang — of  bridges  strown  twixt  star  and  star — 
And  hosts  all  arm'd  in  light  for  bloodless  war 

Pass  and  repass  on  high ; 

Lo  !  in  the  pauses  of  his  jubilant  voice 

He  leans  to  listen  :  answers  from  the  spheres, 
And  mighty  paeans  thundering  he  hears 

Down  the  empyreal  skies. 

Then  suddenly  he  ceased — and  seem'd  to  rest 
His  goodly-fashioned  arm  upon  a  slope 
Of  that  fair  cloud,  and  with  soft  eyes  of  hope 

He  pointed  towards  the  West ; 

And  shed  on  me  a  smile  of  beams,  that  told 
Of  a  bright  World  beyond  the  thunder-piles, 
With  blessed  fields,  and  hills,  and  happy  isles, 

And  citadels  of  gold. 

Frederick  Tennyson. 


CHAPTER   X 
IDisftants  anfc 


These  with  power  were  graced 

To  execute  on  earth  the  will  of  Heaven. 

DANTE. 

As  Angels  in  some  brighter  dreams 
Call  to  the  soul,  when  man  doth  sleep  : 
So  some  strange  thoughts  transcend  our  wonted  themes 
And  into  glory  peep. 

HENRY  VAUGHAN. 


ARE  these  the  tracks  of  some  unearthly  Friend, 
His  foot-prints,  and  his  vesture-skirts  of  light, 
Who,  as  I  talk  with  men,  conforms  aright 
Their  sympathetic  words,  or  deeds  that  blend 
With  my  hid  thought ; — or  stoops  him  to  attend 
My  doubtful-pleading  grief ; — or  blunts  the  might 
Of  ill  I  see  not ; — or  in  dreams  of  night 
Figures  the  scope  in  which  what  is  will  end  ? 
Were  I  Christ's  own,  then  fitly  might  I  call 
That  vision  real ;  for  to  the  thoughtful  mind 
That  walks  with  Him,  He  half  unveils  His  Face  ; 
But  when  on  common  men  such  shadows  fall, 
These  dare  not  make  their  own  the  gifts  they  find, 
Yet,  not  all  hopeless,  eye  His  boundless  grace. 

/.  H.  Newman. 


IDfsftants  an& 


THE  Christian  Religion  rests  upon  truths  which  are 
clearly  revealed  by  God,  and  by  us  are  '  most  surely 
believed.'  But  outside  this  central  area  of  certainty 
there  lies  a  region  more  or  less  illuminated,  in  which 
we  are  free  to  wander  in  reverent  speculation.  It  is 
well  that  such  freedom  should  be  allowed,  for  if 
the  whole  man  should  be  consecrated  to  God,  there 
must  be  room  for  the  reverent  use  of  the  imagination, 
which  is  no  mean  function  of  the  reason.  When 
we  think  of  the  awe  which  is  inspired  by  the  vast 
possibilities  of  nature  ;  when  we  remember  how 
the  discovery  of  the  New  World  evoked  a  fresh 
feeling  of  wonder  in  the  literature  of  the  sixteenth 
century  :  we  shall  not  despise  the  advantage  to 
religion  of  realms  half  realised  and  truths  only 
in  part  apprehended. 

The  suggestions  which  will  be  made  in  this 
chapter  do  not  profess  to  belong  to  the  class  of 
certainties,  but  rather  claim  a  place  among  more 
or  less  probable  speculations.  They  are  not  pro 
posed  as  sure  foundations  of  our  faith,  but  only 
as  ornaments  of  its  fabric,  which  seem  indeed  to 


VISITANTS   AND   MESSENGERS  219 

be  in  harmony  with  its  structure,  but  which  may  be 
cast  away  without  prejudice  to  the  stability  of  the 
building  ;  but  they  would  not  be  proposed  at  all 
save  in  the  conviction  that  they  are  consistent 
with  the  affirmations  of  the  Christian  Faith. 

With  regard  to  the  existence  of  Angels,  it  can 
hardly  be  questioned  by  any  one  who  believes 
in  the  inspiration  of  Holy  Scripture,  and  especially 
the  words  and  acts  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  He, 
who  claims  conversance  with  the  world  of  spirits, 
bears  testimony  to  the  existence  of  intelligent 
creatures  of  an  order  different  from  our  own.  Some 
of  these  beings  are  glad  and  faithful  ministers  of 
God  ;  others,  though  rebellious  and  malignant, 
yet  render  reluctant  submission  to  His  will.  They 
are  alike  '  angels  ' — messengers  who  do  His  pleasure. 
To  doubt  their  existence  is  to  question  the  know 
ledge  of  the  Incarnate  Word,  or,  worse,  His  veracity. 

But  as  to  the  nature  of  the  angels  and  their  mode 
of  operation  we  have  no  such  sure  guidance,  and 
must  be  led  by  suggestions  in  the  Bible,  by  the 
experience  of  the  saints,  and  by  reasonable  prob 
ability. 

There  are  not  a  few  passa.ges  in  Holy  Scripture 
which  seem  to  identify  angels  with  the  forces  of 
nature.  One  such  passage  may  be  quoted  from 
both  Testaments  :  '  He  maketh  His  angels  winds, 
and  His  ministers  a  flame  of  fire.' l  In  consonance 

1  Ps.  civ.  4  ;  Heb.  i.  7. 


220  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

with  this  saying  is  the  experience  of  an  officer  in 
the  Confederate  Army  in  America,  who  was  left  for 
dead  on  the  field  of  battle,  and  there  saw  a  vision 
of  our  Lord  in  glory  ;  and  every  ray  of  light  that 
proceeded  from  Him  terminated  in  an  angelic  face. 
The  world,  he  learned,  is  no  fatalistic  machine,  but 
is  pervaded  with  the  Life  of  Christ ;  and  that  Life 
is  ministered  by  holy  angels.  There  seems  to  be 
no  adequate  reason  why  we  should  not  accept  this 
identification  of  natural  forces  with  holy  angels. 
For,  in  the  first  place,  it  is  certain  from  many 
declarations  of  Holy  Scripture  that  the  angels 
are  His  ministers  to  men  ;  and  it  is  also  certain 
that  the  forces  of  nature  minister  to  us,  sunlight 
and  rain  giving  us  bread  from  Him,  and  storms 
clearing  the  air  from  pestilence.  But  if  forces 
and  angels  alike  minister  to  us  on  earth,  there  is  a 
probability  that  the  two  classes  of  ministrants  are 
allied.  If  angels  guide  the  wanderer,  why  should  not 
the  pole-star  and  the  magnetic  current  be  instru 
ments  by  which  they  work  ?  If  angels  provide 
food  for  us,  as  for  our  Saviour  in  the  wilderness, 
why  should  not  the  sunshine  and  the  rain  which 
bring  forth  the  corn  be  the  means  which  they 
employ  ? 

And  it  may  perhaps  seem  reasonable  that  the 
ministrants  of  the  personal  God  should  themselves 
be  not  merely  things  but  persons  ;  for  a  thing  is  a 
very  imperfect  representative  of  a  person's  mind. 


VISITANTS   AND   MESSENGERS          221 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  we  feel  that  we  gain  a  much 
fuller  knowledge  of  a  man's  character  from  an 
interview  with  him,  or  with  a  friend  who  knew  him 
well,  than  we  can  get  from  his  books  or  his  pictures. 
Now,  we  can  be  quite  sure  that,  unless  He  is  hindered 
by  our  unfitness  to  receive  a  perfect  revelation, 
God  will  use  the  best  means  to  disclose  Himself.  It 
is  so  in  the  supreme  case  of  the  Incarnation,  where 
God  gives  a  revelation  of  Himself  far  surpassing 
books  and  laws  in  the  Person  of  His  Son  ;  and  it  is 
by  the  personal  Spirit  that  He  bestows  on  men 
His  life.  Again,  by  personal  agents  He  ministers 
to  our  bodily  and  spiritual  wants,  using  the  farmer 
to  supply  us  with  food,  the  physician  to  heal  our 
diseases,  the  priest  to  nourish  us  with  the  word 
and  the  sacraments.  It  cannot  be  affirmed  that  He 
never  ministers  to  us  by  impersonal  instruments  ; 
but  there  is  a  sort  of  probability  that  the  ministry 
of  winds  and  fires  is  personal. 

Once  more,  it  is  surely  not  without  significance 
that  some  of  our  greatest  physicists  find  it  con 
venient  to  speak  of  the  forces  of  nature  as  '  daemons? 
using  the  term  not  with  its  modern  connotation 
of  malice  but  in  its  original  Greek  sense  of  spiritual 
powers.  It  would  be  unfair  to  claim  these  thinkers 
as  definitely  asserting  the  angelic  character  of 
natural  forces,  but  as  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  Personal  Reason  lies  at  the  source  of  all  exist- 


222  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

ences,  so  it  is  not  unlikely  that  reasoning  persons 
underlie  all  operations  of  force. 

And  people  who  may  be  ignorant  of  science  bear 
a  similar  witness.  We  are  all  of  us  familiar  with 
what  has  been  called  the  '  pathetic  fallacy '  that 
there  is  a  sort  of  sympathy  between  man  and 
nature — that  when  we  are  glad  the  sunshine  re 
joices  with  us,  and  that  a  pitying  rain  falls  on  the 
grave  where  we  have  laid  our  dear  ones.  Is  this  a 
fallacy  after  all  ?  Is  there  not  really  in  nature 
something  which  answers  sympathetically  to  our 
emotions  ?  It  is  easy  to  reply  that  this  apparent 
sympathy  is  far  from  universal,  for  rain  often 
falls  upon  the  wedding  and  sunshine  on  the  grave. 
But  we  do  not  doubt  the  reality  of  human  sympathy 
because  we  often  fail  to  find  it ;  and  the  '  friendship 
of  nature  '  is  so  common  an  experience  that  the 
failure  of  it  here  and  there  does  not  suffice  to  show 
that  it  exists  nowhere.  But  sympathy  is  a  commu 
nity  between  persons  ;  and  if  the  common  feeling 
of  the  sympathy  of  nature  is  not  altogether  illusory, 
it  indicates  that  nature  is  in  some  sort  personal. 

But  if  we  ascribe  personality  to  nature,  or 
rather  to  angels  who  animate  it,  it  is  well  to  remem 
ber  how  little  we  know  the  real  meaning  of  per 
sonality,  and  how  little  cause  we  have  for  assuming 
that  it  means  precisely  the  same  thing  when  ascribed 
to  men  and  to  angels.  Though  we  are  for  a  while 
made  lower  than  the  angels,  our  capacity  is  higher 


VISITANTS   AND   MESSENGERS  223 

than  theirs  ;  for  while  they  are  ever  God's  servants, 
we  are  His  sons  by  reason  of  our  union  with  His  Son, 
who  partakes  of  our  humanity  and  whose  throne  we 
are  to  share.  Angels  were  supposed  by  some  Jewish 
theologians  '  to  live  only  as  they  ministered.  .  .  . 
The  angels  are  renewed  every  morning,  and  after 
they  have  praised  God  they  return  to  the  stream  of 
fire  out  of  which  they  came.'  l  If  this  view  be 
true,  then  the  holy  angels  may  be  perpetuated  by 
the  persistence  of  their  service  ;  and  the  like  may 
be  the  case  with  the  fallen  angels  ;  for  even  they, 
though  against  their  will,  serve  God  by  trying  and 
perfecting  His  saints  ;  and  when  this  task  has  been 
accomplished,  and  the  saints  need  no  more  trial, 
then  the  Accuser  and  his  servants  may  cease  to  exist. 
We  shall  do  well,  then,  to  remember  that  the 
personality  of  the  angels  may  be  in  some  ways 
different  from  our  own  ;  and  in  using  the  phrase 
to  assume  no  further  meaning  for  it  than  that  they 
are  beings. endowed  with  consciousness  and  volition. 
With  these  thoughts  in  mind  let  us  ask  what 
was  the  gladness  of  the  angels  of  which  we  read  in 
the  Epic  of  Trial,  *  when  the  Morning  Stars  sang 
together,  and  all  the  Sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy.' 
Was  their  joy  merely  that  of  spectators  of  a  glorious 
work,  or  were  they  themselves  partakers  in  it  ? 
Consider  the  pleasure  which  we  take  in  a  work  of 
creative  art.  It  is,  at  first,  delight  in  seeing  the 

1  Westcott  on  Heb.  i.  7. 


224  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

achievement  of  a  single  master-mind  ;  but  we  soon 
become  conscious  of  the  pleasure  of  the  enlargement 
of  our  own  faculties.  We  can  see  now  what  at  first 
Giotto  only  saw.  May  it  not  be  conceived  that 
the  angels'  joy  in  the  creative  work  of  God  involves 
the  joy  of  the  realisation  of  their  own  capacity,  so 
that  their  song  of  praise  is  the  expression  of  their 
own  being  fulfilled  in  the  planet  which  they  guide, 
in  the  wind  which  they  sway  ? 

But  a  grave  difficulty  meets  those  who  are 
disposed  to  associate  the  forces  of  nature  with  the 
angels  in  the  apparently  unmoral  action  of  natural 
forces.  Nature  seems  to  care  nothing  about  right 
and  wrong.  Naboth's  vineyard  does  not  cease  to 
be  fruitful  when  it  passes  into  the  hands  of  Ahab  ; 
the  earthquake  sweeps  away  the  just  and  the  unjust 
alike  ;  the  saint  suffers  the  agony  of  disease  no 
less  than  the  sinner.  Can  it  be  supposed  that 
indiscriminate  benefits  and  disasters  are  ministered 
by  holy  angels  ? 

The  simplest  solution  of  the  difficulty  is  perhaps 
to  be  found  in  the  existence  of  apostate  angels, 
enemies  of  God  and  man,  who  in  spite  of  their  fall 
retain  for  the  time  something  of  their  original 
dominion,  and  may  be  expected  to  exercise  their 
power  unjustly  and  maliciously.  Of  the  existence 
of  evil  spirits  there  can  be  no  doubt  among  those 
who  accept  the  testimony  of  Holy  Scripture  ;  nor 
can  we  forget  that  our  Lord  '  rebuked  '  the  stormy 


VISITANTS   AND   MESSENGERS         225 

winds  and  waves — a  phrase  which  seems  to  imply 
that  they  were  not  only  sentient  but  malignant. 
We  may  remember  the  story  of  St.  Gall,  who, 
crossing  the  Lake  of  Constance  in  company  with 
St.  Columbanus,  heard  the  demons  of  tempest  plot 
how  they  might  hinder  the  messengers  of  the 
Cross.  And  our  fathers,  in  the  consecration  of  bells, 
associated  the  breaking  of  storms  with  the  expulsion 
of  evil  spirits. 

The  difficulty  which  we  are  considering  does 
not  arise  exclusively  in  view  of  the  conception  of 
angels  which  we  have  suggested.  It  lies  in  the  way 
of  all  theism,  which  is  asked  how  the  apparently 
unmoral  course  of  nature  is  to  be  reconciled  with 
faith  in  a  loving  and  mighty  God.  It  is  indeed 
used  by  our  Lord  to  illustrate  the  goodness  of  His 
Father,  who  '  maketh  His  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil 
and  on  the  good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the  just 
and  on  the  unjust.' l  It  is  no  part  of  our  present 
task  to  consider  the  question  as  a  whole  ;  but  it 
may  be  well  to  suggest  that  not  every  creature 
of  God  is  intended  to  express  all  His  character. 
It  may  well  be  that,  reserving  the  declaration  of 
His  righteousness  for  the  supreme  revelation  of 
His  Son,  He  has  made  natural  forces,  and  the  holy 
angels  whom  we  regard  as  ruling  them,  to  express 
not  His  justice  but  His  power  only.  Further,  if  it  is 
not  inconsistent  with  His  justice  to  chastise  those 

1  Matt.  v.  45. 


226  A  BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

whom  He  loves,  it  is  not  necessarily  inconsistent 
with  the  goodness  of  the  holy  angels  to  convey 
that  chastisement.  A  God-fearing  statesman  or 
general  may  find  himself  bound  to  wage  war,  though 
he  knows  that  the  miseries  of  war  fall  upon  guilty 
and  innocent  alike  ;  and  if  such  an  awful  charge 
is  seldom  laid  upon  men,  it  may  be  because  our 
knowledge  of  the  purpose  of  God  is  imperfect,  and 
also  because  our  habit  of  obedience  is  not  sufficient 
to  enable  us  to  carry  out  God's  severity  without 
mingling  with  it  some  private  feelings  of  wrath. 
But  a  holy  Angel  may  well  be  supposed  to  carry  out 
his  terrible  task  with  a  fuller  knowledge  of  God's 
merciful  purpose  and  a  more  perfect  and  unselfish 
obedience  to  His  command.  He  may  have  the 
same  joy  in  his  awful  task  which  a  humane  surgeon 
has  in  some  fearful  operation,  which  he  loathes  as  a 
sympathetic  man,  yet  gladly  performs  because  in 
doing  so  he  is  God's  minister  for  good. 

'  What  think  His  angels,  as  they  go  and  come 
On  some  prodigious  errand  duly  bent, 
Whirled  in  the  howling  wind,  or  veiled  in  cloud. 
Or  in  the  shadowy  columns  of  the  rain, 
To  battle  with  the  careless  mountain  peak, 
Or  rend  the  forest,  or  intently  charged 
With  storm  or  ruin  for  some  innocent  vale  ? 
Care  they  for  human  grief,  for  lifelong  woes  ? 
And  would  they  stay  the  hand  that  strikes  the 

blow  ? 
Wipe  if  they  could  the  bitter  tears  away  ? 


VISITANTS   AND   MESSENGERS          227 

And  do  they  hide  the  head  and  steel  the  eye, 
Too  pure  to  question  those  permitted  wrongs, 
Too  pitiful  to  see  them  and  be  glad  ?  ' 1 

Nay  ;  '  the  righteous  shall  rejoice  when  he  seeth 
the  vengeance,'  when  he  knows  that  it  is  but  the 
'  strange  work  '  of  infinite  and  victorious  Love. 

It  remains  for  us  to  consider  what  effect  this 
association  of  the  forces  of  nature  and  angelic 
ministries,  if  it  be  accepted,  will  have  upon  our 
view  of  the  world  and  of  life.  If  persons  are  more 
noble  than  things,  so  that  the  weak  man  is  more 
noble  than  the  universe  which  crushes  him,  because 
he  knows  that  he  is  crushed,  and  the  universe  knows 
nothing  :  then  the  universe  itself  is  raised  in  no 
bility  if  it  is  regarded  as  intelligent.  The  Christian 
knows,  indeed,  in  any  case  that  personality  and 
not  mere  force  lies  at  the  root  of  the  universe,  for  it 
is  created  through  the  Word  of  God,  and  '  that  which 
hath  been  made  is  life  in  Him  ' ;  but  that  Word 
is  more  fully  expressed  by  the  personal  agency  of 
angels  than  by  any  mere  mechanism  of  dead  forces. 
Thus  the  Benedicite  acquires  a  richer  meaning  if 
it  invites  to  the  praise  of  God  not  inanimate  nature, 
which  at  the  best  could  only  yield  a  homage  inferior 
to  that  of  the  meanest  of  sentient  beings,  but  Angels, 
whose  more  worthy  adoration  is  a  model  and 
incentive  to  our  own.  Thus  in  a  very  wonderful 
1  A.  C.  Benson  :  In  the  Iron  Cage. 

Q  2 


228  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

manner  heaven  and  earth  are  full  of  the  glory  of 
the  Lord.  And  if  at  times  we  tremble  at  the  thought 
that  we  puny  creatures  lie  at  the  disposal  of  forces 
far  more  potent  than  ourselves,  the  fear  is  soothed 
when  we  consider  that  these  forces  express  the 
wise  minds  and  the  tender  hearts  of  angels  who 
consciously  and  voluntarily  minister  to  us  the  care 
of  our  Creator.  We  find  alike  rest  and  exhilaration 
in  taking  to  ourselves  the  words  of  the  mystic 
painter  :  '  When  the  sun  rises  do  you  not  see  a  disc 
of  fire,  somewhat  like  a  guinea  ?  Oh  no,  no  !  I  see 
an  innumerable  company  of  the  heavenly  host, 
crying,  "  Holy,  holy,  holy  is  the  Lord  God  Al 
mighty."  » l 

H.  H.  J. 


THE  Festival  of  St.  Michael  and  All  Angels  fur 
nishes  an  opportunity  for  bringing  out  the  idea  of 
the  interpenetration  of  human  life  by  life  of  another 
order.  And  if  it  be  true  (and  who  has  not  felt  it  ?) 
that  '  the  world  '—the  world  of  sense—'  is  too  much 
with  us,'  then  a  remedy  is  here  offered  for  our  use. 
The  reserve  and  the  revelations  of  Scripture  are 
equally  eloquent.  I  will  notice  one  point  only, 
which  seems  to  be  practically  overlooked. 

We  commonly  limit  our  notion  of  angelic  service 
to  personal  ministration.  No  doubt  Scripture  dwells 
specially  on  this  kind  of  office  ;  but  it  indicates 

»  W.  Blake. 


VISITANTS   AND   MESSENGERS         229 

yet  more,  a  ministration  of  Angels  in  nature,  which 
brings  both  them  and  the  world  closer  to  men. 

Perhaps  one  effect  of  the  growing  clearness  with 
which  we  apprehend  the  laws  of  physical  pheno 
mena  is  to  bring  out  into  prominence  the  thought 
of  the  powers  which  work  according  to  them. 
The  sense  of  action  by  law  places  the  agent  very 
near  to  us.  '  I  can  see,'  writes  one  who  was  himself 
a  distinguished  physiologist,  '  nothing  in  all  nature 
but  the  loving  acts  of  spiritual  beings.'  However 
strange  the  conception  may  be,  it  contains,  I  believe, 
truths  which  we  have  not  yet  mastered.  And  in 
this  respect  we  commonly  embarrass  ourselves  by 
mentally  presenting  all  action  under  the  forms  of 
human  action.  Spirit,  it  is  obvious,  may  act  in 
other  ways  ;  and  our  festival  of  the  heavenly  order 
remains  to  help  us  little  by  little  to  apprehend  in 
this  larger  sense  the  revelation  of  the  Communion 
of  Saints. 

Bishop  Westcott  (1825-1901), 

ALL  God's  Angels  come  to  us  disguised— 
Sorrow  and  sickness,  poverty  and  death, 
One  after  other  lift  their  frowning  masks, 
And  we  behold  the  seraph  face  beneath 
All  radiant  with  the  glory  and  the  calm 
Of  having  looked  upon  the  front  of  God. 

/.  R.  Lowell. 

EVERY  person,  and  everything  through  which 
God  brings  before  men  His  commands,  or  His 
warnings,  or  His  promises,  becomes,  so  far,  His 
angel  or  messenger.  It  is  for  us  to  follow  as  a 


230  A  BOOK  OF  ANGELS 

voice  from  heaven — as  an  Angel  of  the  Lord — 
every  suggestion  that  would  lead  us  to  Him,  every 
warning  that  would  keep  us  in  His  paths. 

Ask  yourself,  each  one  who  sincerely  desires 
Divine  help  and  guidance,  whether  you  may  not, 
like  some  holy  men  of  old,  have  '  received  angels 
unawares ' ;  whether  you  may  not  have  been  visited 
—though  not  by  a  divine  messenger  in  bodily 
shape — yet  by  some  thought  or  feeling  which,  in 
some  hour  of  trial,  has  led  you — or  would  have  led 
you — out  of  evil  company,  or  some  other  such  danger, 
even  as  the  angels  led  Lot  out  of  the  city  doomed 
to  destruction  ?  May  not  some  temporal  loss,  or 
mortification,  or  alarm,  have  occurred  opportunely 
to  shake  off  from  you  the  chain  of  over-devotedness 
to  worldly  objects,  or  to  rouse  you  from  indolent 
carelessness,  like  the  angel  which  visited  Peter  in 
the  prison,  bidding  him  arise  and  gird  himself  and 
causing  his  fetters  to  fall  off,  and  the  prison  gates  to 
open  ?  Or  may  not  the  ordinary  courses  of  events 
— that  is,  of  God's  Providence,  which  makes  *  all 
things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love 
Him ' — have  sometimes  introduced  you  to  some 
book,  or  some  teacher,  fitted  to  supply  to  you  just 
the  instruction  or  the  consolation  you  were  most  in 
need  of :  even  as  the  angel  brought  Cornelius  to  the 
knowledge  of  Peter,  who  should  '  tell  him  what  he 
ought  to  do  '  ?  In  these  you  may  have  been  re 
ceiving  angelic  visits  unawares  ;  since  every  person 
or  thing  through  which  God  communicates  with  us 
is,  so  far,  His  angel  or  messenger. 

Archbishop  Whately  (1787-1863). 


VISITANTS   AND   MESSENGERS         231 


GOD  keeps  His  holy  mysteries 

Just  on  the  outside  of  man's  dream  ; 
In  diapason  slow,  we  think 
To  hear  their  pinions  rise  and  sink, 
While  they  float  pure  beneath  His  eyes, 
Like  swans  adown  a  stream. 


Abstractions,  are  they,  from  the  forms 
Of  His  great  beauty  ? — exaltations 

From  His  great  glory  ? — strong  previsions 
Of  what  we  shall  be  ? — intuitions 
Of  what  we  are — in  calms  and  storms, 
Beyond  our  peace  and  passions  ? 


Things  nameless  !  which,  in  passing  so, 
We  stroke  as  with  a  subtle  grace ; 

We  say,  '  Who  passes  ?  ' — they  are  dumb  ; 
We  cannot  see  them  go  or  come : 
Their  touches  fall  soft — cold — as  snow 
Upon  a  blind  man's  face. 


Yet,  touching  so,  they  draw  above 

Our  common  thoughts  to  Heaven's  unknown  ; 
Our  daily  joy  and  pain,  advance 
To  a  divine  significance 
Our  human  love — O  mortal  love, 
That  light  is  not  its  own ! 


232  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

And  sometimes,  horror  chills  our  blood, 
To  be  so  near  such  mystic  Things, 
And  we  wrap  round  us  for  defence 
Our  purple  manners,  moods  of  sense — 
As  angels,  from  the  face  of  God 
Stand  hidden  in  their  wings. 


And  sometimes,  through  Life's  heavy  swound 
We  grope  for  them,  with  strangled  breath 
We  stretch  our  hands  abroad,  and  try 

To  reach  them  in  our  agony  ; 
And  widen,  so,  the  broad  life-wound 
Soon  large  enough  for  death. 

E.  B.  Browning.1 

1  Human  Life's  Mystery. 


CHAPTER  XI 
(Buarfcian 


God's  witnesses,  a  glorious  host, 
Compass  him  daily  like  a  cloud. 

J.  KEBLE. 


THE   ANGEL  GUARDIAN. 

fF.   Shields.  I 


AND  if  it  be  that  they  behold 

His  Face  in  some  serener  air, 
While  those  they  guard,  in  want  and  cold 

And  hunger,  wail  and  shiver  there  ; — 
How  can  they  care,  when  thus  they  stand 

In  that  sweet  peace,  that  golden  dream, 
For  yon  dull  eye,  yon  feeble  hand, 

For  hearts  that  ache,  for  tears  that  stream  ? 
They  wonder  that  so  frail  a  thing 

Can  still  resist  the  awful  WiU  ; 
They  marvel,  even  as  they  sing, 

That  souls  are  disobedient  still : 
They  would  not  change  ;   and  yet  they  guess 

That  still  some  loftier  purpose  waits 
For  sin-stained  spirits,  so  they  press 

Right  onward  to  the  shining  gates. 
And  thus,  with  rapt  and  wistful  grace, 

With  hand  outstretched  and  wondering  eye, 
They  tend  the  humbler,  nobler  race, 

A  little  lower,  yet  more  high  ! 

Arthur  Christopher  Benson. 


Guardian  Hn0ete 


He  shall  give  His  angels  charge  over  thee,  to  keep  thee  in 
all  thy  ways. — Ps.  xci.  n. 

My  oldest  friend,  mine  from  the  hour 

When  first  I  drew  my  breath ; 
My  faithful  friend,  that  shall  be  mine, 

Unfailing,  till  my  death  ; 

Thou  hast  been  ever  at  my  side  ; 

My  Maker  to  thy  trust 
Consigned  my  soul,  what  time  He  formed 

The  infant  child  of  dust. 

J.  H.  NEWMAN. 


THE  contemplation  of  the  Holy  Angels  has  a  fas 
cination  all  its  own.  There  is  something  extra 
ordinarily  attractive  in  the  thought  of  '  those 
blessed  servants  of  God  who  have  never  tasted  of 
sin  ;  who  are  among  us,  though  unseen,  ever  serving 
God  joyfully  on  earth  as  well  as  in  heaven  ;  who 
minister,  through  their  Maker's  condescending  Will, 
to  the  redeemed  in  Christ,  the  heirs  of  salvation.' 
To  every  Christian  but  the  most  prosaic  it  is  a 
joy  to  remember  that  the  whole  universe  is,  after 
all,  full  of  created  beings  free  from  sin,  whose  happi 
ness  it  is  to  praise  God  continually  and  serve  Him 


GUARDIAN   ANGELS  237 

willingly  ;  and  that  *  because  of  the  angels '  ]  it  is 
not  true  that  *  full  many  a  flower  is  born  to  blush 
unseen  and  waste  its  sweetness  on  the  desert  air.' 
All  this  and  much  else — our  relation  to  the  Saints  and 
Blessed  Dead,  for  instance — belongs  to  the  poetry 
of  religion ;  and  poetry  is  pathetic,  uplifting, 
edifying.  Our  knowledge  of  the  angels  is  but  dim 
and  shadowy  at  best,  for  in  this  life  there  are  the 
scales  of  human  limitation  upon  our  eyes,  and  they 
impede  our  vision.  '  The  hosts  of  God  encamp 
around  the  dwellings  of  the  just ;  '  but,  like  the 
servant  of  Elisha  before  his  master  prayed  for  him, 
our  eyes  are  holden,  and  we  see  them  not.  Yet 
this  at  least  is  clear  about  the  being  of  angels  : 
that  they  are  spiritual  substances,  or  (to  quote  from 
St.  John  Damascene2)  'intellectual  beings,  ever  in 
motion,  possessing  free-will,  incorporeal,  ministering 
to  God,  having  an  immortal  nature,  the  form  and 
limit  of  whose  being  the  Creator  alone  knoweth.' 
St.  Augustine  says,  '  An  angel  is  called  a  spirit  on 
account  of  what  he  is,  and  an  angel  on  account  of 
what  he  does,'  i.e.  he  goes  forth  as  God's  messenger 
(dyys\o$).  As  to  their  occupation,  all  are  agreed 
that  theirs  is  a  life  of  worship,  a  life  of  service  and  a 
life  of  order  ;  and  it  is  obviously  with  the  second 
of  these  that  this  chapter  is  concerned,  and  only  with 
a  part  of  that. 

That  the  holy  angels  minister  to  human  needs  is 

1  i  Cor.  xi.  10.  -  De  Fid.  Orth.  ii.  3. 


238  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

plainly  revealed  in  Holy  Scripture.  In  Hebrews  i.  14 
they  are  described  as  '  ministering  spirits,  sent  forth 
to  do  service  for  the  sake  of  them  that  shall  inherit 
salvation  '  ;  and  this  passage  clearly  refers  to  both 
the  regions  of  their  activity.  If  on  the  one  hand 
they  are  spirits  who  minister  in  the  worship  of  God, 
they  are  also  sent  forth  by  the  Almighty  for  another 
kind  of  ministration,  viz.  to  the  needs  of  men. 
Here  two  preliminary  questions  present  themselves  ; 
and  the  first  is  asked  and  replied  to  by  Rev.  Henry 
Latham  in  the  introductory  chapter  of  his  book, 
*  A  Service  of  Angels.'  Knowing  and  believing 
as  we  do  that  God  is  our  Almighty  Father  and  that 
His  love  and  care  of  His  children  are  illimitable,  what 
is  there  left  for  the  angels  to  do  for  us  which  He  has 
not  done  already  ?  '  Inasmuch  as  God  is  every 
where  at  once,  He  must  see  everything  ;  and  inas 
much  as  He  is  the  fountain  of  all  love,  He  must  care 
for  us  more  than  any  angels  possibly  can.  Why 
should  not  we  be  content  with  this,  of  which  we  are 
assured  ?  ' l  Mr.  Latham's  answer  to  this  is  that 
the  doctrine  of  angelic  intervention  is  a  matter  of 
Biblical  revelation ;  and  if  a  further  reply  be 
needed,  it  is  found  in  a  reference  to  the  almost 
universal  principle  according  to  which  God  deals 
with  us,  viz.  His  employment  of  agents  and 
means.  It  is  true,  almost  without  exception,  that 
God's  dealings  with  us  are  not  immediate  but 
L.  c.  p.  10. 


GUARDIAN   ANGELS  239 

mediate  ;  yet  this  is  obviously  no  argument  against 
His  omnipresence,  His  omnipotence,  or  His  Love. 
As  Dr.  A.  B.  Davidson  says  in  his  article  on  Angels 
in  Hastings'  '  Dictionary  of  the  Bible ' :  '  The  God 
of  Israel  is  above  all  things  a  living  God,  Who  in 
fluences  the  affairs  of  the  world  and  men,  and  rules 
them.  If  He  uses  agents,  they  are  supplied  by  the 
"  ministers  "  that  surround  Him.' 

The  other  question  is  somewhat  more  philo 
sophical  and  abstruse.  Angels  are,  as  has  already 
been  noticed,  spiritual  substances  ;  and,  as  will  be 
shown  later,  their  ministrations  to  man  are  partly 
temporal  and  material.  But  how  can  the  spiritual 
work  upon  the  material  ?  We  cannot  tell ;  here 
is  a  mystery  which  cannot  with  any  degree  of  cer 
tainty  be  solved.  Yet  that  the  material  is  affected 
by  the  spiritual,  who,  with  any  knowledge  of  human 
nature  and  life,  would  venture  to  deny  ?  Is  it  not  a 
matter  of  experience  that  our  '  own  spirits  work 
upon  our  fleshly  frames '  ?  Does  not  the  spiritual 
life  of  many  a  man,  if  vigorous  and  healthy,  affect 
even  his  bodily  state  and  the  material  circum 
stances  and  surroundings  of  his  life  ?  Things  unseen 
have  the  deepest  effect  upon  things  seen,  just  as 
the  seen  has  upon  the  unseen  ;  there  need  be  no 
opposition  whatever  between  spirit  and  matter,  but 
very  much  the  reverse  ;  and  '  there  are  more  things 
in  heaven  and  earth  than  are  dreamt  of  in  our 
philosophy.' 


240  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

Leaving  these  preliminary  questions  we  come 
to  the  definite  consideration  of  the  holy  angels  as 
guardians.  And  first  of  all,  it  would  appear  that  a 
particular  charge  of  guardianship  has  been  given 
to  angels  over  kingdoms,  nations,  and  Churches. 
This  opinion  has  been  held  by  many,  St.  Augustine 
and  St.  Clement  of  Alexandria  for  instance  ;  and 
Dr.  Pusey,  in  his  '  Lectures  on  Daniel  the  Prophet,'  l 
argues  to  a  like  effect.  '  As  Daniel  was  employed 
to  disclose  God's  care  and  providence  over  heathen 
nations,  so  through  him  it  was  disclosed  that,  as 
God  set  one  chief  Angel  as  the  deputed  Guardian  of 
His  people,  so  He  set  others  over  other  nations. 
It  is  in  harmony  with  all  which  we  know  about 
those  blessed  spirits.  .  .  .  Daniel,  declaring  that 
the  heathen  also  were  the  objects  of  "God's  care, 
taught,  in  the  case  of  two  great  nations,  Persia  and 
Graecia,  that  they  were  under  the  care  of  eminent 
Angels,  "  princes  "  with  God.2  For  the  angels  of 
Persia  and  Graecia  were,  manifestly,  good  angels, 
since  they  desired  the  welfare  of  their  people ; 
and  they  contended  with  Gabriel  and  Michael 
before  God,  each,  in  submission  to  the  Divine  Will, 
desiring  what  seemed  for  the  good  of  His  people. 
.  .  .  The  interest  of  the  heavenly  beings  in  man 
had  been  revealed  before.  To  Daniel  it  was  made 
known  as  part  of  God's  "  mercy  over  all  His  works," 
that  il  constituting  the  services  of  angels  and  men 

1  P.  522,  ed.  1864.  2  Dan.  x.  20,  21. 


GUARDIAN   ANGELS  241 

in  a  wonderful  order,"  He  assigned  to  each  nation 
one  of  those  "  ministering  spirits,"  to  succour  and 
defend  them,  and  plead  their  cause  with  Himself, 
the  Father  of  all.'  From  the  same  passage  in 
Daniel  we  may  infer  that  St.  Michael  was 
the  prince  or  guardian  angel  of  the  Jewish  nation. 
St.  Basil  speaks  of  '  national  ruling  angels  ' ;  and 
even  Calvin  in  his  *  Institutes '  says  that  '  particular 
provinces  are  delivered  over  by  God  to  angels' 
governance,  as  was  wont  to  be  done  by  emperors 
to  their  judges.' 

Before  leaving  this  part  of  our  subject,  reference 
must  be  made  to  modern  examples  of  belief  in  the 
same  doctrine.  In  Mr.  Brand's  '  Popular  Anti 
quities  '  there  is  the  following  passage  :  *  It  has 
long  been,  and  still  continues  the  custom,  at  Michael 
mas  or  thereabouts,  to  elect  the  governors  of  towns 
and  cities,  the  civil  guardians  of  the  peace  of  men  ; 
perhaps,  as  Bourne  supposes,  because  the  Feast  of 
the  Angels  naturally  enough  brings  to  mind  the 
old  opinion  of  tutelar  spirits  who  have,  or  are  thought 
to  have,  the  particular  charge  of  bodies  of  men,  or 
districts  of  country,  as  every  man  has  his  guardian 
angel.'  And  in  Hone's  '  Every  Day  Book  '  there 
is  a  similar  allusion. 

Of  the  office  of  the  Holy  Angels  as  Guardians  of 
the  Holy  Catholic  Church,  Mr.  Baring-Gould  thus 
writes  :  '  Angels  were  constant  in  their  guardianship 
of  the  Jewish  Church  till  that  Church  brought 

R 


242  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

Christ's  blood  in  condemnation  upon  it,  when  they 
passed  over  to  the  defence  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
These  are  the  watchmen  of  whom  Isaiah  speaks 
as  being  set  upon  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  never  to 
hold  their  peace  day  and  night.  .  .  .  Michael  is 
the  chief  of  these  guardians.  He  was  prince  of  the 
armies  which  stood  round  about  the  Jewish  people  ; 
now  he  is  prince  of  the  host  guarding  the  Church  of 
God.' l 

We  pass  now  to  that  part  of  our  subject  which 
is  perhaps  more  fascinating  because  more  poetical 
and  more  personal.  Not  only  have  the  angelic 
bands  been  entrusted  with  the  guardianship  of 
societies  of  men,  in  nations  and  Churches,  but  also, 
it  would  appear,  of  individuals  as  well.  So  long  as 
we  confine  ourselves  to  the  general  idea  of  the 
guardianship  of  individual  men  and  women  by 
angels,  we  are  on  perfectly  safe  ground,  and  may 
speak  with  certainty,  since  this  is  indisputably  a 
matter  of  Scriptural  revelation  as  well  as  of  Church 
teaching.  There  is  the  well  known  promise  of 
angelic  protection  which  heads  this  chapter  :  '  He 
shall  give  His  angels  charge  over  thee,  to  keep  thee 
in  all  thy  ways.'  There  is  also  the  definite  asser 
tion  of  Ps.  xxxiv.  7  :  '  The  angel  of  the  Lord  en- 
campeth  round  about  them  that  fear  Him,  and 
delivereth  them.'  And  there  is  the  passage  in  the 
book  of  Job,1  in  which  Satan  answers  the  Lord 

1  Lives  of  the-  Saints  :  '  Michaelmas  Day.' 


GUARDIAN   ANGELS  243 

and  says  :  '  Hast  Thou  not  made  an  hedge  about 
him,  and  about  his  house,  and  about  all  that 
he  hath,  on  every  side  ?  '  It  is  significant  to  note 
that  in  both  the  Authorised  and  Revised  Versions 
of  the  Bible,  a  parallel  reference  is  given  in  the 
margin  to  Ps.  xxxiv.  7,  quoted  above.  But  when 
we  go  further,  and  assume  that  each  individual 
child  of  God  has  a  guardian  angel  specially  and 
particularly  assigned  to  take  care  of  him,  we  must 
be  careful  to  remember  that  the  realms  of  certainty 
are  left  behind,  and  that  we  are  now  travelling 
into  the  unknown.  From  this  point  to  the  end 
of  our  chapter  we  are  in  the  regions  of  speculation 
and  '  pious  opinion,'  and  nothing  is  de  fide,  or  '  an 
article  of  faith  '  ;  and,  as  Bishop  Hall  says,  '  Where 
God  is  silent,  let  us  be  willingly  ignorant.' 

Many  have  held,  and  hold,  that  every  child  of 
Adam  without  exception  has  a  guardian  angel 
from  his  birth  to  guide  and  protect  him  as  long 
as  his  probation  lasts.  It  is  supposed  that  every 
human  being,  however  degraded  and  wicked,  has 
an  angel  as  his  companion  all  through  life.  Justin 
Martyr  says  that  *  every  man  is  attended  with  a 
guardian  angel,  according  to  the  divine  writings  '  ; 
and  St.  Jerome  appears  to  agree  with  him  in  the 
following  passage :  '  Great  is  the  dignity  of  souls, 
who  have  from  their  birth  a  delegate  angel,  com 
missioned  from  heaven,  for  their  custody.'  St. 

1  i.  10. 

R  2 


244  A   BOOK  OF  ANGELS 

Thomas  Aquinas  maintains  this  opinion,  and  quotes 
St.  Jerome  in  his  favour.1  His  contention  is 
that  the  privilege  of  being  guarded  by  angels  is  a  gift 
which,  in  the  Providence  of  God,  comes  to  man 
as  man,  like  the  gift  of  natural  reason  of  which 
not  even  Antichrist  himself  is  deprived. 

Whether  this  be  true  or  not,  it  seems  more 
probable  still  that  the  baptized  '  heirs  of  salvation  ' 
are  individually  protected  by  the  power  and  influence 
of  these  ministering  spirits.  The  former  might 
be  a  benefit  in  the  order  of  nature,  here  is  a  special 
ministry  in  the  order  of  grace.2  About  this  the 
Fathers  and  Doctors  of  the  Church  are  practically 
unanimous.  A  large  proportion  of  modern  writers 
(Bishop  Patrick  and  Bishop  Wilson,  for  example- 
Bishop  Hall  is  an  exception)  fix  the  commencement 
of  this  guardianship  at  baptism  ;  while  Puritan 
writers,  as  would  be  expected,  prefer  the  moment 
of  conversion. 

As  *  Guardians,'  the  holy  angels  may  be  said 
to  protect  us,  in  the  Divine  Providence,  from 
'  dangers  both  ghostly  and  bodily.'  There  is  a 
world  of  spiritual  evil  all  about  us  ;  of  the  greater 
part  of  it  perhaps  we  are  hardly  conscious,  although 
we  know  that  the  malignity  and  subtilty  and  resource 
of  the  powers  of  evil  are  vast  indeed.  What 

1  Summa,  First  Part,  quest.  113,  §  4. 

-  See  Darwell  Stone,  Outlines  of  Christian  Dogma,  pp.  281, 
282. 


GUARDIAN   ANGELS  245 

a  comfort  to  be  able  to  turn  from  such  a  thought 
as  this  to  the  contemplation  of  our  heavenly  guar 
dians  !  With  unceasing  fidelity,  they  warn  the 
sinner,  they  aid  the  tempted,  they  breathe  into  the 
soul  the  holy  inspirations  of  God.  They  weaken 
the  blackening  power  of  evil  thoughts  by  putting 
good  imaginations  into  our  minds  ;  they  influence 
our  power  of  choice,  they  illuminate  and  stimulate 
the  conscience,  they  persuade  the  will.  How  often 
we  neglect  their  warnings  and  reject  their  proffered 
help,  because  we  are  sordid,  engrossed  in  mundane 
trifles  !  And  consequently,  although  they  are  there 
beside  us,  we  do  not  profit  by  their  presence  as  we 
should.  Yet  apparently  they  never  leave  us,  how 
ever  careless  an  dforgetful  we  may  be  ;  St.  Thomas 
Aquinas  is  not  alone  in  his  belief  that  a  man  is  never 
totally  deserted  by  his  guardian  angel  in  this  life.1 
And  when  the  sinner  turns  to  God  in  deep  repent 
ance,  who  can  describe  the  angels'  joy  ? 

But  there  are  also  temporal  ills — the  '  bodily 
dangers  '  of  which  the  Church  Catechism  speaks  ; 
and  from  these  too,  it  would  seem,  the  guardian 
angels  are  permitted  by  God  to  be  powerful  to 
deliver  us.  In  Genesis  xxi.  17  an  angel  speaks 
from  heaven  to  Hagar  and  helps  her  in  her  necessity  ; 
though  of  course  there  is  no  proof  that  this  was 
her  guardian  angel.  In  Daniel  vi.  22  the  prophet 
speaks  to  King  Darius  from  the  lions'  den,  and  says, 

1  Summa,  1.  c.  §  6. 


246  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

'  My  God  hath  sent  His  angel,  and  hath  shut  the 
lions'  mouths.'  And  in  Genesis  xlviii.  16  the  aged 
Jacob  prays  that  the  Angel  who  has  redeemed  him 
from  all  evil  may  bless  his  grandchildren  Ephraim 
and  Manasseh.  A  verse  in  the  Apocrypha,1  '  a 
good  angel  shall  go  with  him,'  seems  to  be  the 
first  definite  allusion  to  the  guardian  angel  of  an 
individual.  Another  verse,  often  quoted  in  this 
connection,  must  be  allowed  to  be  doubtful.  '  The 
well-known  passage,  "  It  is  his  angel,"  in  Acts  xii.  15, 
is  frequently  appealed  to  for  proof  of  the  doctrine 
of  guardian  angels.  .  .  .  Here  the  parallel  between 
"his  angel"  and  "the  Lord's  angel"  in  verse  n 
may  imply  that  the  angel  was  some  spiritual  repre 
sentative  of  St.  Peter — perhaps,  as  we  should  say, 
"his  ghost."'2  And  Dr.  J.  M.  Neale  takes  the 
same  view  of  this  passage. 

Many  modern  stories  are  told  of  angelic  inter 
vention  in  temporal  danger,  and  some  of  these  at 
any  rate  are  well  authenticated.  A  little  child 
in  America  ran  out  into  the  street,  but  was  run  over 
by  a  passing  tram-car.  She  was  picked  up  and 
taken  home  as  one  dead.  For  a  long  time  she  lay 
in  a  kind  of  trance,  though  apparently  unhurt. 
When  she  came  to  herself  they  asked  her  what 
she  remembered  of  the  accident.  She  told  them 

1  Tobit  v.  21. 

2  Rackham  :  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  in  '  Oxford  Commentaries,' 
pp.  178,  179. 


GUARDIAN   ANGELS  247 

clearly  of  a  bright  being  in  white  who  had  lifted  up 
the  cruel  wheels  one  after  another  so  that  they  could 
not  hurt  her.  The  only  traces  of  the  accident 
upon  her  were  two  red  marks  across  her  body 
made  by  the  wheels.  This  story  comes  from  one 
who  had  seen  the  marks,  and  is  told  on  unimpeach 
able  authority ;  and  Dr.  Neale  in  his  '  Unseen 
World  '  is  one  of  those  who  have  given  it  publicity. 
Such  instances  might  easily  be  multiplied,  but  want 
of  space  forbids  the  relation  of  any  others  save 
one.  A  devout  and  well-to-do  Cornish  farmer  was 
accustomed  to  go  regularly  into  the  market-town 
to  sell  his  produce,  and  used  to  bring  back  his  money 
in  the  gig  at  night,  generally  returning  alone.  The 
vicar  of  his  parish  asked  him  once  if  he  was  not 
afraid,  under  the  circumstances,  to  drive  back 
in  the  dark  by  himself ;  he  replied  that  he  preferred 
to  be  alone,  for  he  always  meditated  on  the  way 
home,  and  frequently  felt  the  close  companionship 
of  the  angels.  One  night  two  colliers  had  plotted  to 
waylay  and  kill  him,  and  waited  for  his  trap  to  return 
along  the  dark  and  lonely  road.  As  the  gig  drew 
near,  one  of  them  cried,  '  Good  God  !  there  are  two  of 
them.'  And  so  there  were,  two  men  exactly  alike  ; 
one  on  the  right  hand  leaning  forward  in  the  act 
of  driving,  the  other  facing  the  robbers  as  the  trap 
approached.  The  men  fled  in  terror  ;  and  one  of 
them,  being  taken  ill  shortly  afterwards,  made  a 
clean  breast  of  the  evil  plot,  in  the  presence  of  a 


248  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

priest.  The  farmer,  on  being  asked  for  a  solution 
of  the  mystery,  simply  replied  that  no  one  had 
accompanied  him  on  that  particular  night,  but  that 
(as  often  before)  he  had  felt  the  angels  very  near 
him.  The  truth  of  this  story  also  rests  on  the 
strongest  evidence,  and  it  has  often  been  re-told. 
An  early  number  of  '  Goodwill,'  for  instance,  gave  a 
thrilling  rendering  of  it  from  the  facile  pen  of  the  late 
Mr.  Cary-Shuttleworth.  The  facts  of  the  story 
are  simply  so  much  additional  evidence  of  what 
every  faithful  Christian  confidently  knows  to  be 
true,  viz.  that  our  God  keeps  His  promises,  and 
the  inspiring,  comforting  words  of  Psalm  xci.  are 
no  exaggeration.  A  similar  story  is,  I  believe,  told 
of  John  Wesley. 

It  would  appear  that  the  protection  of  the 
guardian  angels  ceases  when  this  life  is  over  ;  though 
the  connection  of  our  subject  with  the  problems  of 
eschatology  is  obviously  wrapped  in  mystery.  St. 
Luke  xvi.  22  seems  to  imply  that  angels  minister 
to  the  soul  at  death,  or  at  least  just  after  it ;  and 
from  St.  Jude  9  we  may  possibly  infer  that  they 
have  a  care  for  the  bodies  of  the  holy  dead.  Their 
duty  is  to  lead  the  soul  they  have  with  such  solici 
tude  watched  and  prayed  for  through  the  days  of 
earthly  life,  straight  to  the  Feet  of  God  for  the 
Particular  Judgment ;  then  perhaps  their  work 
ceases  until  the  Final  Judgment  at  the  Last  Day, 
when  before  the  Great  White  Throne  they  will  render 


GUARDIAN   ANGELS  249 

an  account  of  their  stewardship,  and  bear  their 
witness  either  for  or  against  us.  Yet  it  will  be 
remembered  that  in  Dr.  Newman's  *  Dream  of 
Gerontius '  the  guardian  angel  not  only  accom 
panies  the  soul  it  loves  so  well  to  the  bar  of  the 
Particular  Judgment,  but  also  receives  it  again 
when  the  '  happy,  suffering  soul '  returns  from 
'  the  dear  feet  of  Emmanuel,'  and  leads  it  to  the 
'  penal  waters  '  of  Purgatory,  into  which  he  dips  it 
carefully  before  bidding  it  farewell  for  a  time. 

Our  last  words  must  be  on  an  important  part  of 
this  subject  hitherto  unnoticed,  viz.  Our  Lord's 
plain  words  concerning  the  children's  guardian 
angels  in  St.  Matthew  xviii.  10.  Here  again  we 
are  without  a  doubt  treading  on  the  safe  ground  of 
revelation  if  we  say  (with  Mr.  Latham  *),  that  at  any 
rate  '  a  certain  company  of  angels  collectively  are 
given  charge  over  children  in  general.'  Many 
would  fain  go  farther,  and  love  to  think  that 
this  or  that  beloved  little  one  is  under  the  special 
guardianship  and  care  of  some  particular  one  of 
God's  holy  angels ;  but  this  is  not  matter  of 
revelation,  though  perfectly  innocent  and  edifying 
as  a  '  pious  opinion.'  In  the  passage  referred  to, 
Our  Lord,  to  Whom  the  little  ones  of  His  flock  are 
specially  dear,  is  warning  His  disciples  never  to 
despise  the  children.  Men  in  their  dull  stupidity  may 
think  lightly  of  them  and  imagine  that  it  does  not 
1  L.  c.  p.  97. 


250  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

matter  what  they  see,  or  hear,  or  suffer  ;  yet  all  the 
time  they  are  the  objects  of  the  most  earnest  care 
and  the  most  thoughtful  anxiety  on  the  part  of  those 
angelical  guardians  to  whose  protection  they  have 
been  intrusted  by  their  Heavenly  Father.  It  is 
clear  from  this  passage  that  angels  exercise  a  very 
special  care  and  guardianship  over  children  to  pre 
serve  their  innocence.  The  stage  of  childish  inno 
cence  is  indeed  a  crucial  time  ;  the  character  of  a 
young  child  is  so  tender,  so  delicate,  so  susceptible 
to  external  influences,  good  or  bad  ;  of  this  the 
angelic  guardians  never  lose  sight,  though  we  are 
terribly  apt  to  forget  it.  '  The  holy  angels  '  (says 
Fr.  Clarke) '  are  especially  jealous  over  the  innocence 
of  the  young.  Woe  be  to  those  who  teach  them 
evil  or  do  not  respect  them  as  they  ought !  Woe 
be  to  those  who  through  their  culpable  neglect  or 
carelessness  allow  children  committed  to  them 
to  mix  with  bad  companions  or  run  into  peril  of 
sin  !  ...  God  will  hear  the  angels'  cry  for  ven 
geance  on  those  who  harm  their  little  clients,' — since 
those  guardian  angels  are  ever  in  closest  communion 
with  God  Himself. 

As  we  contemplate  these  holy  beings  to  whom 
for  God's  sake  the  little  ones  are  so  dear,  let  us  join 
them  in  their  prayers  for  the  children  ;  let  us  pray 
for  all  parents  and  teachers  of  the  young  that  they 
may  duly  feel  their  great  responsibility.  And  let 
us  pray  too  that  we  may  never  be  deprived  of  the 


GUARDIAN   ANGELS  251 

help  which  angelic  hosts  supply  at  God's  command  ; 
and  that  we  may  never  be  so  engrossed  in  the  things 
of  sense  as  to  be  neglectful  of  their  faithful  minis 
trations. 

'  Still  let  them  succour  us  ;  still  let  them  fight, 
Lord  of  angelic  hosts,  battling  for  right ; 
Till,  where  their  anthems  they  ceaselessly  pour, 
We  with  the  angels  may  bow  and  adore.' 

G.  W.  H. 


IN  our  extremest  loneliness,  in  our  lowest  depres 
sion,  in  our  heaviest  pains,  if  we  be  earnest  in  throw 
ing  ourselves  at  God's  feet  in  faithful  penitence, 
the  Angel  is  surely  by  to  comfort  us. 

In  the  hour  of  death,  he  does  not  leave  the  spirit 
of  the  just  to  sink  unsupported  with  the  sinking 
body.  He  is  by  us  in  our  cheerful  moments,  as  well 
as  in  our  graver  ones.  He  is  by  us  when  we  sleep 
or  wake  in  the  darkness  of  the  night.  We  cannot 
pass  our  guardian  angel's  bound.  While  our  life  is 
militant  here,  while  we  are  guarded  and  assisted  by 
the  angels,  let  us  ever  ask  for  grace  to  be  as  faithful, 
as  loving,  as  obedient  as  they  are,  that  by  us  at  least, 
and  those  whom  we  can  in  any  way  reach  or  in 
fluence,  the  will  of  God  may  in  some  degree  be  done 
in  earth,  as  it  is  done  in  Heaven. 

Bishop  George  Moberly. 


252  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 


A  CHILD  ASLEEP 

VISION  unto  vision  calleth 

While  the  young  child  dreameth  on  : 

Fair  O  dreamer,  thee  befalleth 

With  the  glory  thou  hast  won ! 
Darker  wast   thou  in   the  garden  yestermorn  by 

summer  sun. 

We  should  see  the  spirits  ringing 
Round  thee,  were  the  clouds  away  : 

'Tis  the  child  heart  draws  them,  singing 

In  the  silent-seeming  day — 
Singing !   Stars  that  seem  the  mutest  go  in  music 

all  the  way. 

As  the  moths  around  a  taper, 

As  the  bees  around  a  rose, 
As  the  gnats  around  a  vapour, 

So  the  spirits  group  and  close 

Roundabout   a  holy  childhood   as  if  drinking  its 
repose. 

Shapes  of  brightness  overlean  thee, 

Flash  their  diadems  of  youth 
On  the  ringlets  which  half  screen  thee, 

While  thou  smilest  .  .  .  not  in  sooth 
Thy  smile,  but  the  overfair  one,  dropt  from  some 
aetherial  mouth. 


GUARDIAN   ANGELS  253 

Haply  it  is  Angels'  duty, 

During  slumber,  shade  by  shade 
To  fine  down  this  childish  beauty 

To  the  thing  it  must  be  made 

Ere  the  world  shall  bring  it  praises,  or  the  tomb  shall 
see  it  fade. 

Softly,  softly  !  make  no  noises  ! 

Now  he  lieth  dead  and  dumb  ; 
Now  he  hears  the  angels'  voices 

Folding  silence  in  the  room  : 

Now  he  muses  deep  the  meaning  of  the  Heaven- 
words  as  they  come. 

Speak  not !  he  is  consecrated  ; 

Breathe  no  breath  across  his  eyes  ; 
Lifted  up  and  separated 

On  the  hand  of  God  he  lies 

In  a  sweetness  beyond  touching,  held  in  cloistral 
sanctities. 

E.  B.  Browning. 


CHAPTER  XII 
ot  6oofc  XTtotngs  anfc 


But  half  so  low  as  He  hath  bowed 

Did  never  highest  Angel  stoop  from  brightest  cloud. 

J.  KEBLE. 

Omnes  Angeli  creatura  serviens  Christo  est,  .  .  . 
ministrabant  ei  non  tanquam  misericordes  indigenti, 
sed  tanquam  subjecti  omnipotent!. 

ST.  AUGUSTINE. 


THE   ANNUNCIATION. 

IT,  Gambier  Parry,    1884.) 


Hngels  ot  (Boofc  ZTifcings  anb 


THE  ANNUNCIATION 

BY  what  message  and  by  whose  lips  should  the  best 
of  all  good  tidings  come  to  mankind  ?  Let  the 
Collect  for  the  Annunciation  give  the  answer  :  '  By 
the  message  of  an  angel.' 

Yet  how  often  the  full  significance  of  this  manner 
of  the  Annunciation  is  missed.  What  is  that  signifi 
cance  ?  Let  the  imagination  go  back  to  the  dawn 
of  creation  and  to  the  picture  of  that  dawn  as 
it  is  conceived  in  the  Book  of  Job,  where  it  is 
thought  of  as  the  hour  'when  the  morning  stars 
sang  together  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for 
joy.'  The  heavens  were  indeed  open  then,  when  as 
yet  the  race  that  was  to  walk  by  faith  and  not  by 
sight  was  still  uncreated,  when  all  that  was  done 
was  done  in  a  bright  and  glorious  sunshine  of  worship 
and  joy,  and  obedience  itself  was  not  a  thing  of 
pain  and  submission  but  of  perfect  freedom  and 
unalloyed  delight. 

'  Songs  of  praise  the  Angels  sang, 
Heaven  with  Alleluias  rang, 
When  Creation  was  begun, 
When  God  spake  and  it  was  done.' 

s 


258  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

Then,  let  imagination  fold  her  wing  and  history 
take  up  the  unfolding  of  things  on  earth  as  the 
abode  of  man.  Let  memory  record  how  he  fell 
from  the  obedience  of  angels  and  became  himself 
as  a  fallen  angel,  not  fallen  indeed  into  utter  rebel 
lion,  but  into  disobedience  and  walking  in  a  world 
where  the  heavens  are  no  longer  open,  save  by 
gleam  and  vision  at  rare  spaces  of  time,  and  where 
he  is  conscious  of  a  depth  beneath  as  well  as  of  a 
height  above  :  a  depth  that  he  may  fall  into  if  he 
is  not  saved,  and  towards  which  there  is  some  base 
gravitation  in  his  nature  which  he  feels  himself 
powerless  to  counteract,  except  he  shall  receive  help 
from  above.  There  in  that  region  of  history  he  still 
dreams  of  the  world  above,  of  angels  unfallen  who 
come  to  help  him,  who  guard  indeed  the  Tree  of 
Life  and  suffer  him  not  in  his  disobedience  to 
approach  it,  but  who  nevertheless  by  their  presence 
proclaim  that  it  is  there  and  mark  the  place  where 
it  is  to  be  found. 

And  not  only  do  those  sentinels  stand  there, 
but  wheresoever  he  goes,  others  of  the  host  are  still 
found  to  minister  to  him.  He  sees  them  on  the 
ladder  of  vision  ascending  and  descending  between 
heaven  and  earth.  He  sees  one  of  them  in  a  flame 
of  fire  in  the  midst  of  a  bush,  assuring  him  that 
man  is  not  utterly  cast  away,  that  heaven  and 
earth  are  in  communion  still,  and  earth  still  watched 
and  guided  from  on  high.  Again,  he  will  see  one 


ANGELS   OF   GOOD  TIDINGS   AND  JOY     259 

of  them  leading  his  nation  by  day  and  night  through 
the  wilderness,  and  *  many  a  time '  in  this  or  that 
crisis  of  national  or  personal  life  will  some  glimpse 
come  to  him  of  the  angel  that  encampeth  round 
about  them  that  fear  God,  or  of  those  chariots  of 
God  which  are  twenty  thousand,  even  thousands  of 
angels.  For  as  in  the  visible  things  of  the  rain  and 
fruitful  seasons,  so  also  in  the  invisible  things  of  the 
spirit,  God  did  not  in  the  old  covenant  leave  Himself 
without  witness. 

But  now  it  is  the  time  of  the  new  covenant, 
when  a  new  force  is  to  come  to  counteract  the 
gravitation  of  evil.  It  is  the  morning  of  a  new  day 
that  is  to  dawn  on  the  world,  the  hour  of  a  new 
creation,  the  bringing  in  of  a  better  hope  than  of 
the  land  of  Canaan  and  the  old  Jerusalem.  It  is 
the  beginning  of  a  new  time,  the  rising  of  another 
sun  which  shall  be  no  ball  of  fire,  but  a  Being  full 
of  Grace  and  Truth.  The  heavens  shall  be  once 
more  opened,  and  not  in  dream  only  or  vision  of 
the  night,  but  in  very  deed  and  in  the  light  of  a  new 
day.  Can  any  human  lips  be  worthy  to  bear  such 
news  ?  No,  even  though  that  Sun  shall  rise  on  human 
nature  and  be  born  of  a  pure  Virgin  ;  even  though 
He  shall  touch  and  tarry  for  awhile  upon  the  earth 
itself  and  come  through  the  gate  of  birth  and  be 
the  child  of  a  human  Mother. 

Yet,  though  it  shall  be  so,  the  first  clear  tidings 
of  this  Gospel  shall  come,  as  He  will  come,  from 

s  2 


260  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

above,  and  be  spoken  by  the  lips  of  an  angel,  even 
Gabriel,  *  sent  from  God,  unto  a  city  of  Galilee 
named  Nazareth,  to  a  Virgin  espoused  to  a  man 
whose  name  was  Joseph,  and  the  Virgin's  name  was 
Mary.'  Already  had  those  same  lips  heralded  the 
very  Herald  of  the  coming  Lord,  guarding  and  fore 
showing,  as  it  were,  by  a  double  line  of  heavenly 
glory,  the  Majesty  of  Him  who  should  in  due  time 
appear. 

It  is  surely  a  defect  in  the  modern  hymn  to  have 
missed  the  significance  and  beauty  of  this  single 
and  magnificent  note  in  the  Gospel  record.  Choruses 
and  choirs  are  beautiful,  but  so  also,  and  in  a  special 
way,  is  there  a  beauty  and  loveliness  in  the  sound 
of  a  solitary  voice,  and  such  is  the  effect  as  we  read 
in  the  sacred  page  of  the  voice  of  Gabriel  speaking 
to  the  Maid  of  Nazareth  and  uttering  that  first 
note  which  presently  the  Angels  of  the  Nativity  shall 
take  up  when  they  shall  awake 

'  the  morn 
When  the  Prince  of  Peace  was  born.' 

W.  H.  D. 


ANGELS   OF   GOOD  TIDINGS   AND   JOY     261 


THE  NATIVITY 

An  angel  of  the  Lord  stood  by  them,  and  the  glory  of  the 
Lord  shone  round  about  them  .  .  . 

And  the  angel  said  unto  them,  Be  not  afraid  ;  for,  behold 
I  bring  you  good  tidings  of  great  joy,  which  shall  be  to  all  the 
people.  .  .  . 

And  suddenly  there  was  with  the  angel  a  multitude  of  the 
heavenly  host  praising  God. — St.  Luke  ii.  9-13,  R.V. 

What  sudden  blaze  of  song 

Spreads  o'er  th'  expanse  of  Heaven  ? 
In  waves  of  light  it  thrills  along, 

Th'  angelic  signal  given — 
'  Glory  to  God  !  '  from  yonder  central  fire 
Flows  out  the  echoing  lay  beyond  the  starry  quire. 

KEBLE. 

THE  song  of  the  Angels  was  the  first  public 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  Its  Advent 
had  been  announced  privately  to  those  who  were 
elected  to  be  its  instrument,  in  dream  and  vision, 
in  angelic  salutation,  in  inspirations  of  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

It  had  been  recognised  and  welcomed  in  words 
such  as  had  never  yet  burst  from  the  hearts  of  men 
from    human    gladness,  from    human    hope :    '  My 
soul  doth  magnify  the  Lord,  and  my  spirit  hath 
rejoiced  in  God  my  Saviour.' 

But  beyond  the  sacred  home  at  Nazareth,  and 
in  the  priestly  city  in  the  hill-country  of  Judah,  the 
first  announcement  to  those  outside,  to  the  repre 
sentatives  of  those  '  poor  to  whom  the  Gospel  was 
to  be  preached,'  was  in  the  angelic  visit  and  the 
angelic  '  Gospel  of  great  joy,'  to  the  shepherds  who 
were  watching  in  the  fields  where  the  patriarchs 


262  A    BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

had  fed  their  flocks.  Their  hymn  of  praise,  which 
was  the  first  news  to  the  world  that  its  Saviour  was 
come,  was  also  the  first  note  in  that  triumphant 
song  of  deliverance,  which  was  taken  up  by  the 
Church  below,  to  be  continued  day  by  day  through 
the  centuries  over  all  the  earth,  and  never  cease  till 
it  shall  swell  into  the  '  new  song '  of  the  Church 
above.  With  the  Lord's  Prayer,  with  the  Magni 
ficat  and  Benedictus  and  Nunc  Dimittis,  it  became 
a  stated  and  necessary  part  of  the  public  language 
of  the  Church  in  its  most  solemn  worship.  In  its 
highest  offering  of  Eucharistic  praise,  the  words  of 
the  Seraphim  in  the  Temple  under  the  Old  Dispensa 
tion,  '  Holy,  Holy  Holy,  Lord  God  of  Hosts,'  are 
answered  by  those  of  the  angels  around  Bethlehem 
in  the  New :  '  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on 
earth  peace,  goodwill  towards  men.' 

Dean  Church  (1815-1890). 

ANGELS,  greater  than  we  in  power  and  resources, 
who  have  never  fallen  from  their  first  estate,  and 
have  freely  offered  to  God  through  long  ages  a 
perfect  service,  behold  God  in  His  unfathomable 
condescension  passing  them  by,  as  He  bends  to 
help  and  ennoble  the  inferior  and  fallen  race  of 
man. 

They  are  too  pure,  these  lofty  spirits,  to  harbour 
the  slightest  feeling  of  envy  or  resentment ;  but 
they  desire  reverently  to  look  into  this  new  revela 
tion  of  the  infinitude  of  the  attributes  of  their 
King  ;  they  wonder  at  a  condescension  which  must 
be  right  but  which  they  cannot  understand. 


ANGELS   OF   GOOD  TIDINGS   AND  JOY     263 

'  Behold,  the  tabernacle  of  God  is,'   not  with 
angels,  but  '  with  men  !  ' 1 


The  Birth  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  to  the 
spiritual  world  what  the  rising  of  the  sun  is  in  the 
world  of  nature.  Even  upon  the  orders  of  heavenly 
intelligences  it  had  effects,  at  which  St.  Paul  hints 
in  his  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians.2 

But  for  the  human  soul  it  meant  a  passage  from 
darkness  to  light,  and  from  cold  to  sunshine. 

Prophecy  had  bidden  Zion  arise  and  shine,  since 
her  Light  had  come,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  had 
risen  upon  her.3  The  Sun  of  Righteousness  was 
announced,  Who  should  arise  with  healing  in  His 
wings.  Although  darkness  had  covered  the  earth 
and  gross  darkness  the  people,  yet  the  Lord  should 
arise  upon  Zion,  and  His  glory  be  seen  upon  her. 
Accordingly  Zacharias  salutes  Him  as  '  the  Day 
Star  from  on  high  Who  hath  visited  us,  to  give 
light  to  them  that  sit  in  darkness  and  the  shadow 
of  death  ' 4 ;  and  Simeon,  holding  the  Divine  Saviour 
in  his  arms,  proclaims  that  He  is  '  a  Light  to  lighten 
the  Gentiles.' 

When  Jesus,  the  Sun  of  the  moral  world,  rose 
above  the  horizon  of  time,  first  one  and  then  another 
height  was  touched  by  His  rays  ;  and  gradually  the 
light  crept  down  the  hillsides,  and  reached  the 
valleys  of  human  life,  so  that  no  scene  was  too 
remote  to  be  bathed  in  its  warmth  and  splendour. 

1  Rev.  xxi.  3.  -  Eph.  iii.  9-11. 

3  Isa.  Ix.  i.  *  St.  Luke  i.  78,  79. 


264  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

Some  of  us  will  remember  that  great  work  of 
Christian  genius,  the  picture  of  the  Nativity — the 
Notte,  as  it  is  called,  by  Correggio,  which  is  among 
the  treasures  of  the  Dresden  Gallery.  In  it  the 
Divine  Infant  is  represented  as  with  a  body  almost 
transparent  with  light,  and  from  Him  the  light 
streams  on  all  around ;  His  Mother,  His  foster- 
father,  the  Angels,  are  illuminated  in  the  proportion 
of  their  nearness  to  Him.  This  is  but  a  representa 
tion  on  canvass  of  a  spiritual  and  eternal  truth. 
He  is  the  one  Light  of  the  world,  and  we  are  in  the 
light  just  so  far,  and  only  so  far,  as  we  are  near 
Him. 

H.  P.  Liddon. 

JESUS  CHRIST  was  born  to-day  ; 

There  is  Joy  above. 
'  Peace  on  Earth  !  '  the  Angels  say, 
'  Peace  and  Love  !  ' 

Mary  clasped  the  Baby  feet, 
Clasped  them  to  her  breast. 

Peace  is  sweet,  and  Joy  is  sweet, — 
Love  is  best ! 

A.  C.  Benson. 

THE  Lord  of  all  has  become  a  servant.  All  the 
Angels  of  heaven  marvel  at  this,  and  it  is  the  greatest 
wonder  that  Eternity  has  seen,  for  it  is  against 
nature,  and  this  is  Love  indeed. 

Jacob  Behmen. 


ANGELS   OF   GOOD   TIDINGS   AND  JOY     265 

THE  ANGEL  GABRIEL 

THERE  is  perhaps  no  better  illustration  of  the  main 
feature  in  the  character  of  Angels  as  God's  messengers 
than  the  glimpses  we  are  given  in  the  Bible  of  the 
angel  Gabriel. 

The  name  *  Gabriel '  is  derived  from  two  Hebrew 
words,  <Geber'=man  <El'  =  God,  and  means  a 
'  man  of  God ' — i.e.,  as  the  angel  explains  to 
Zacharias,1  one  who  '  stands  in  the  presence  of 
God  '  ;  and  not  in  the  sense  in  which  the  term  '  a 
man  of  God '  was  applied  to  the  prophets  in  the 
Old  Testament. 

In  considering  the  office  and  work  of  Gabriel  as 
the  Angel  of  Good  Tidings  and  Joy,  it  will  help  us  if 
we  gather  from  Scripture  and  tradition  the  various 
references  to  him. 

In  the  Jewish  writings  about  angels,  Gabriel 
occupies  a  very  important  place.  He  seems  to  be 
the  companion  of  St.  Michael ;  and  both  of  them 
appear  as  in  the  rank  of  princes,  or  guardian  angels 
of  the  nations,  rather  than  of  individuals. 

Gabriel's  messages  to  Daniel,  Zacharias,  and  the 
Blessed  Virgin  relate  to  God's  purposes  for  His 
people  in  and  through  the  instrumentality  of  the 
person  to  whom  the  message  was  delivered. 

He  is  referred  to  in  the  Book  of  Enoch  as  one 
of  the  four  great  Archangels ;  and  also 2  as  one  of 
the  seven  angels  which  stand  before  God,  who 
present  the  prayers  of  the  saints,  and  go  to  and  fro 
before  God.  The  Jewish  '  Targums  '  make  Gabriel 

1  St.  Luke  i.  19.  2  Rev.  viii.  i. 


266  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

e  the  man  '  who  showed  Joseph  the  way  to  his 
brethren,1  who,  with  Michael  and  others,  takes  part 
in  the  burial  of  Moses,2  and  who  was  sent  to  destroy 
the  armies  of  Sennacherib.3 

There  is  a  very  important  passage,  Daniel  viii. 
15-19,  in  which  Gabriel  is  expressly  named  as 
explaining  to  the  man  greatly  beloved  by  God  the 
meaning  and  purpose  of  the  vision  he  had  just 
seen — the  vision  of  the  ram  and  the  he  goat — and 
also  Jeremiah's  prophecy  about  the  return  of  the 
Jews  from  Babylon  after  seventy  weeks  of  years — 
i.e.  490  years.4 

In  these  incidents  as  related  in  Daniel  we  get 
the  true  idea  of  God's  great  message  of  comfort  to 
man  ;  the  germ  which  finds  its  fullest  development 
in  the  New  Testament  and  in  our  Blessed  Lord  Him 
self  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 

The  main  burden  of  God's  message  to  Daniel 
was  strength.  The  servant  of  God  in  Babylon,  as 
his  predecessor  on  the  banks  of  Jordan,  was  bidden 
to  l  be  strong  ;  yea,  be  strong.'  Both  Joshua  and 
Daniel  needed  all  the  strength  they  could  receive  ; 
and  so  the  angel  messenger  comes  with  an  assurance 
of  strength — '  To  them  that  have  no  might,  He 
increaseth  strength,'  whether  it  be  to  such  humble 
souls  as  the  Blessed  Virgin  (see  her  expressions  in 
the  Magnificat)  or  to  such  strenuous  ones  as  St.  Paul, 
who  cries  out,  '  I  can  do  all  things  in  Him  that 
strengtheneth  me.' 5  There  is  a  world  of  hidden 

1  Gen.  xxxvii.  15.  2  Deut.  xxxiv.  6. 

8  2  Chron.  xxxii.  21.  4  Jeremiah  xxvii.-xxix.  10. 

5  Phil.  iv.  13. 


ANGELS   OF   GOOD  TIDINGS   AND  JOY     267 

power  for  weak  human  nature  in  the  magic  word 
'  comfort.'  Its  derivation  from  the  Latin  words 
*  con  '  = '  together  '  and  '  f ortis  '  = t  strong  '  gives 
us  the  key  to  its  true  foundation  meaning — to  be 
fortified  with  and  by  the  power  of  God.  And  being 
'  strong  in  the  Lord  and  in  the  power  of  His  might ' 
we  are  truly  comforted,  and  enabled  to  go  on  from 
strength  to  strength.  It  is  just  this  root  idea  of 
'  comfort '  that  Gabriel  specially  brings  as  his 
Master's  message  to  struggling,  earnest  hearts  and 
lives.  Not  the  mere  common  idea  of  soothing  the 
sufferer,  and  trying  to  help  him  to  escape  from  the 
pressing  pain  that  overpowers  him.  Not  the  wail 
of  the  persecuted  Psalmist,  '  O  that  I  had  wings  like 
a  dove  ;  then  would  I  fly  away  and  be  at  rest.' l  But 
the  spirit  which  breathes  through  the  prayer  in  the 
contest  in  Gethsemane,  the  prayer  for  power  and 
strength  to  endure,  not  to  escape  from  the  Cross : 
'  Father,  if  Thou  be  willing,  remove  this  cup  from 
Me :  nevertheless  not  My  will,  but  Thine,  be 
done.' 2  In  response  the  angel  of  comfort  appears 
to  strengthen  Jesus. 

*  The  Comforter  which  is  the  Holy  Ghost '  gives 
strength  to  the  Christian  soul.  He  is  especially 
£  the  Strengthener ' — i.e.  the  true  Comforter ;  and  as 
such  He  brings  glad  tidings  of  great  joy  to  those 
who  submit  themselves  to  His  guidance.  There 
seems  to  be  a  very  close  analogy  between  the  office 
and  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  the  duties  of 
angelic  spirits.  Our  Lord  says  that  the  Holy 
Ghost  *  the  Comforter  shall  teach  you  all  things, 

1  Ps.  iv.  6.  2  St.  Luke  xxii.  42. 


268  A   BOOK  OF  ANGELS 

and  bring  to  your  remembrance  all  that  I  said  unto 
you.' l  This  He  does  of  and  by  Himself  in  His  own 
Divine  inherent  power  ;  for  He  is  God  as  truly  as 
the  Father  and  the  Son.  The  angels  bring  to  man 
— not  of  their  own  initiative,  but  by  Divine  order — 
messages  and  tidings  of  truest  strengthening  com 
fort. 

It  has  been  well  said,  '  Angels  are  God's  thoughts 
in  action.'  Hence,  '  when  the  fulness  of  the  time 
was  come,'  what  messenger  more  in  accordance 
with  previous  good  news  to  men  could  be  sent  from 
Heaven  than  Gabriel  to  announce  to  the  Virgin 
who  was  '  highly  favoured  '  with  God  the  Gospel 
or  glad  tidings  of  the  Incarnation  ? 

Ages  before  this  Gabriel,  the  man  of  God,  had 
been  sent  to  Daniel,  *  the  man  greatly  beloved,' 
with  the  glad  news  of  the  restoration  of  the  Jews 
490  years  later ;  now  the  same  spirit  comes  from 
the  Presence  of  God  to  her  whom  all  after  genera 
tions  are  to  call  *  Blessed,'  with  the  far  more  glorious 
message  of  the  restoration  of  a  lost  and  sin-laden 
race,  not  to  the  temporal  Jerusalem,  but  to  the 
true  City  of  God — c  the  city  that  hath  the  founda 
tions,  whose  builder  and  maker  is  God  ' 2 — through 
the  Life  and  Death,  the  Resurrection  and  Ascension 
of  Mary's  Divine  and  Perfect  Son.  There  is  an 
instructive  comparison  between  the  three  recorded 
messages  of  God  to  man  by  the  agency  of  Gabriel. 
Daniel  was  strengthened  by  the  news  and  by  the 
personal  contact  with  the  angel :  '  He  touched 
me.'3  His  heart  had  been  prepared  by, long  com- 

1  St.  John  xiv.  26.         2  Heb.  xi.  10.         8  Dan.  ix.  21. 


ANGELS   OF   GOOD  TIDINGS   AND  JOY     269 

muning  with  God  for  any  revelation  of  Divine 
purpose.  He  had  stood  firm  for  the  faith  of  his 
fathers  amidst  many  and  powerful  temptations 
to  forsake  it.  The  Blessed  Virgin  had  long  before 
learned  the  deeper  truths  of  the  Jews'  religion  as  it 
was  taught  in  her  day.  She  had  looked,  like  other 
holy  souls,  pure  in  heart,  far,  far  deeper  into  the 
things  which  belonged  to  her  peace,  as  Simeon  and 
Anna  and  Nathaniel  had  done.  There  were  '  loyal 
hearts  and  true,'  which,  like  the  Apostles,  had 
drunk  in  the  truths  '  hidden  from  the  wise  and 
prudent ' ;  and  to  such  hearts  as  were  filled  with  a 
childlike  faith,  the  message  of  the  Incarnation 
awoke  a  deep  joy  and  gladness  amongst  the  c  men 
of  goodwill.'  The  news  which  Simeon  and  Anna 
had  to  tell  to  all  that  '  were  looking  for  the  redemp 
tion  of  Jerusalem  '  was  such  as  would  fill  their 
hearts  with  joyous  recognition  of  God's  fulfilment 
of  His  promised  Messiah's  Advent. 

If  Daniel  was  strengthened  by  Gabriel's  touch, 
how  much  more  was  the  world  benefited  by  the 
contact  of  the  Divine  Lord  of  Angels  with  our  human 
nature.  The  touch  of  Emmanuel  with  humanity 
which  was  the  substance  of  Gabriel's  message  to 
the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  brought  '  life  and  immor 
tality  to  light  through  the  Gospel.1 

Gabriel's  message  finds  a  true  fulfilment  in  the 
announcement  by  a  single  Angel  to  the  shepherds 
at  Bethlehem,  and  the  glad  chorus  of  the  heavenly 
host,  '  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on  earth 
peace,  goodwill  towards  men.' 

We  are  not  told  in  Holy  Scripture  the  name  of 


270  A   BOOK  OF  ANGELS 

the  individual  angel  who  announced  the  Nativity — 
and  who  strengthened  our  Lord  in  Gethsemane. 
But  reverent  and  devout  thought  may  not  unfitly 
regard  Gabriel  as  the  messenger  of  the  Most  High 
in  these  momentous  instances. 

When  we  regard  Gabriel's  message  to  Zacharias, 
we  find  the  stern  discipline  used  not  so  much  to 
punish  as  to  strengthen  the  doubting  Priest.  It 
was  good  news  that  the  angel  brought  to  him,  but 
because  of  the  perplexity  of  Zacharias  at  the  un 
looked-for — almost  unprecedented — appearance  of 
the  angel,  he  is  allowed  to  reveal  his  name  and  place 
in  the  hierarchy  of  Heaven.  '  I  am  Gabriel,  that 
stand  in  the  presence  of  God.'  1  And  the  very 
dumbness  which  was  imposed  upon  Zacharias  till 
the  birth  of  his  son,  was  to  be  used  as  a  time  of 
meditation  and  deep  pondering  upon  the  future 
training  of  the  Forerunner  for  his  great  work  of 
4  making  ready  a  people  prepared  for  the  Lord.' 
The  thought  of  the  future  son's  work  could  not  be 
separated  in  the  priest's  mind  from  that  infinitely 
greater  Life  and  Work  of  Mary's  Son  that  was  to 
follow  upon  the  preparatory  ministry  of  the  child 
as  yet  unborn. 

A  parallelism  may  be  fitly  noticed  between 
Zacharias  the  Priest  and  St.  Thomas  the  Apostle. 
There  was  very  much  in  common  between  the 
characters  of  the  two  men.  Zacharias  was  '  righte 
ous  before  God,  blameless  as  regards  all  the  com 
mandments  and  ordinances  of  the  Lord.'  St.  Thomas 

1  St.  Luke  i.  19. 


ANGELS   OF   GOOD   TIDINGS  AND  JOY     271 

was  earnestly  devoted  to  his  Lord  and  Master. 
'  Let  us  also  go,  that  we  may  die  with  Him,' L  was 
the  appeal  to  his  brethren  when  Jesus  announced 
His  intention  of  again  risking  His  life  by  going  into 
hostile  Judaea  to  raise  Lazarus  from  his  '  sleep.' 
The  news  of  the  Messiah's  Advent  and  of  the  Resur 
rection  of  Jesus  was  probably  held  by  priest  and 
apostle  alike  as  almost  too  good  to  be  true.  So  in 
the  one  case  an  Archangel,  and  in  the  other  the  Risen 
Lord  of  angels  Himself,  strengthened  the  halting 
yet  heartfelt  faith  of  the  two  servants  of  God. 

It  only  remains  to  look  at  the  special  points 
which  the  personality  (in  the  true  sense  of  character 
— not  externals)  of  Gabriel  suggests. 

i.  His  universally  accorded  high  position  in  the 
angelic  hierarchy  springs  from  that  character  which 
both  in  angels  and  in  human  saints  marks  out  the 
Divine  regard  for  those  beings  whose  chiefest 
happiness  and  glory  and  work  it  is  to  proclaim  the 
love  of  God  far  and  wide.  The  character  that  seeks 
to  make  God's  way  known  upon  earth,  His  saving 
health  among  all  nations,  is  that  of  one  who  stands 
consciously  or  subconsciously  '  in  the  presence  of 
God.'  *  Here  am  I ;  send  me.'  The  great  missionary 
spirit,  the  mainspring  of  all  true  evangelistic  effort, 
whether  amid  home  or  foreign  heathen,  Gabriel's 
spirit,  '  broods  upon  '  the  mission  field— hovers  over 
the  people  who  sit  in  darkness  and  in  the  shadow 
of  death,  and  goes  forth  in  the  power  of  God's  might 
to  encourage  and  strengthen  the  human  agents  who 

St.  John  xi.  16. 


272  A  BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

seek  to  spread  the  joyous  tidings  of  the  Gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

2.  The  gifts  that  such  men  of  God  imbued  with 
Gabriel's  spirit  bear  with  them  are  priceless — life 
and  immortality  through  the  Gospel.     The  greatest 
Gift  of  all — the  gift  of  the  Saviour  to  a  sin-laden 
world  ;  One  who  was  to  save  His  people,  not  in,  but 
from,  their  sins.     The  gift  of  Emmanuel — God  with 
us.     As  it  was  with  St.  Paul  to  the  Athenians  *  a 
strange  thing  to  our  ears,'  because  he  preached  to 
them    '  Jesus    (that   is,  the   Incarnation),  and   the 
Resurrection  '  ] ;  so  the  preaching  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
ever  '  strange '  to  ears  that  have  not  heard,  and 
hearts  that  have  not  held,  it.     But  it  is  the  gift 
which  has  sent  the  martyrs  in  a  noble  host  to  swell 
the  chorus  of  the  new  song  of  praise — it  is  the 
gift  which  has  sent  workers  into  the  slums,  and  into 
the  islands  of  the  sea;  into  the  wildernesses  and 
solitary  places  of  the  world.     The  gift  that  sent 
St.  Bernard  of  Aosta  to  his  Alpine  pass,  a  Living 
stone  to  Africa,  a  Gordon  to  Khartoum,  a  Patteson 
to  Melanesia,  a  Damien  to  the  lepers — and  many  a 
young  doctor  and  nurse  into  fever-stricken  dens — 
as   well   as   bishops,   priests,    and   deacons   in   the 
exercise  of  their  ministry  to  '  proclaim  the  acceptable 
year  of  the  Lord.' 

3.  The    Light    that    lighteth    every    man    that 
cometh    into    the    world.     The    true    Lux    Mundi. 
Even  as  the  Cross  on  the  west  front  of  the  Norman 
Conqueror's  Cathedral  at  Caen  has  Lux — as  well  as 
Lex,   Pax,  and  Rex — engraven  on  its  arms,  and 

1  Acts  xvii.  1 8,  20. 


ANGELS   OF   GOOD  TIDINGS   AND  JOY    273 

each  sharing  the  terminal  letter  with  each  word, 
thus: 

R 

E 


so  the  Light  of  Life  is  bound  up  with  the  Peace  of 
God,  the  Law  of  God,  and  the  Kingship  of  God — in 
the  Cross  of  Jesus  Christ.  Gabriel  foretold  the 
Cross  in  his  message  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  ;  its 
shadow  was  over  all  her  after  life,  till  the  cruel 
sword  pierced  her  soul  at  Calvary's  Tree.  The 
Light  that  Gabriel  announced  to  lighten  the  Gentiles ; 
that  '  Lux  Benigna  '  that  leads  us  on  '  o'er  moor 
and  fen,  o'er  crag  and  torrent,  till  the  night  is  gone.' 
The  Light  that  never  was  on  sea  or  land.  Even 
'  the  Light  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  Face  of  Jesus 
Christ.' 

Lastly,  the  guidance  that  Gabriel  gave  and 
which  enabled  '  the  man  greatly  beloved  '  to  be 
*  strong  in  the  Lord  and  in  the  power  of  His  might.' 
To  do  the  will,  to  accomplish  the  purpose  of  God. 
This  must  be  each  one's  aim.  The  angelic  work  of 
leading  others  heavenward  is  only  possible  when 
we  ourselves  are  going  along  that  road.  May 
thoughts  of  Gabriel  encourage  us  to  persevere.  May 
we  find  the  words  of  the  Psalmist  true  for  each  one 
of  us :  '  They  go  from  strength  to  strength  ;  every 
one  of  them  appeareth  before  God  in  Zion.' l 

L.  R.  W. 

J  Ps.  Ixxxiv.  7. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


They  who  nearest  stand 
Always  to  God  in  Heaven  and  see  His  Face, 

Go  forth  at  His  command 
To  wait  around  our  path  in  weal  or  woe. 

J.  KEBLE. 


UJ      7 

Q 

£  <s 

o  ^' 

UJ 

I 


HEARKEN  !     The  Voice  of  the  Lord  ! 
Few  heeded  it  on  earth  ;  what  time  He  came 
In  agony,  His  earthly  servants  slept, 
And  when  He  looked  to  see  if  any  did 
Take  pity  on  Him,  none  were  found  to  heed. 
But  to  the  ear  of  God  His  cry  went  up, 
And  through  the  wide  Halls  of  the  Father's  House 
It  echoed  strangely  ;  till  the  Sons  of  God 
Stood  silent  in  their  places.     And  the  Voice 
Of  God  spake  out,  commanding  one  to  go 
With  heavenly  consolations,  unto  Him 
Whose  cry  came  up  before  the  Holy  Throne. 

Hearken  !     The  Voice  of  the  Lord  ! 
The  Angel  in  his  shining  garments  stands 
In  the  dim  garden,  and  beside  the  Man 
Whose  face  is  marred  with  sorrow,  on  whose  brow 
The  shades  of  death  are  gathering,  and  whose  eyes 
Are  dim  with  tears  and  watchings.     And,  behold  ! 
The  Angel  veils  his  face  with  his  white  wings, — 
His  face  which  is  so  bright  from  Heaven's  own  sun, 
His  eyes  which  shine  with  an  undying  light, — 
Before  this  Countenance,  which  is  so  worn, 
So  dim  with  anguish,  and  before  those  eyes 


278  A   BOOK  OF   ANGELS 

Which  are  so  near  to  death.     Yea,  doth  he  veil 
His  face  more  closely,  in  the  Presence  high 
Of  this  unconquerable  Love,  this  power 
To  suffer  all  things,  even  unto  death  ; 
Then  he  had  veiled  it,  standing  in  the  glow 
Of  the  great  Sapphire  Throne,  and  knowing  not 
The  depths  and  heights  of  this  strong  Love  of  God. 
Hearken  !     The  Voice  of  the  Lord  ! 

IB.  M: 


/HMnisterin0 


*  THAT  they  may  succour  and  defend  us  on  earth.' 
So  we  pray  in  the  noble  Collect  for  Michaelmas 
Day,  and  the  prayer  brings  the  Angels  near  to  us 
and  our  needs.  While  it  is  an  uplifting  exercise  of 
the  imagination  to  conceive  of  them,  as  the  reader 
has  been  invited  to  do  in  former  chapters,  wor 
shipping  in  their  '  orders  nine  before  the  throne,' 
and  '  doing  God  service  in  heaven,'  it  is  an  easier 
and  simpler  task  to  dwell  on  their  ministry  to  us  on 
earth  —  though  indeed  that  must  be  a  part  of  their 
service  to  God.  We  know  so  much  of  the  many  and 
great  dangers  in  which  we  are  set  that,  even  if  there 
were  no  facts  to  assure  us  of  angelic  succour,  we 
should  be  eager  to  fancy  the  presence  of  some 
unseen  helpers  surrounding  us  with  strong  and 
tender  guardianship. 

But  the  Gospels  turn  the  fancy  into  fact.  They 
tell  us  of  angels  '  ascending  and  descending  upon 
the  Son  of  Man  '  —  bearing  up  His  prayers  and 
aspirations  to  the  Father's  throne,  and  bringing 
down  succour  according  to  His  need.  And  it  is 
the  Son  of  Man  on  whom  they  ascend  and  descend. 


280  A   BOOK  OF  ANGELS 

Not  only  His  own  Human  Person,  but  all  humanity 
in  Christ  is  linked  by  a  ministry  of  angels  to  the 
Father.1  They  succour  and  defend  us. 

Of  course  they  are  revealed  as  present  at  the 
great  moments  of  His  Conception  and  Birth.  Gabriel 
comes  with  his  message  to  our  Lady  at  Nazareth. 
Another  '  herald  angel '  comes  to  the  shepherds  at 
Bethlehem  on  Christmas  Night.  But  these  are 
messengers — angels  of  good  tidings  and  joy,  of 
which  the  previous  chapter  has  already  treated — 
rather  than  ministers,  though,  as  soon  as  holy 
imagination  begins  to  fill  up  the  unrevealed  spaces 
in  the  Gospel  story,  we  picture  the  angels  ministering 
to  the  Babe  and  His  Mother  : 

'  And  all  about  the  courtly  stable 
Bright-harness'd  angels  sit  in  order  serviceable.' 2 

Still  one  way  of  reverencing  the  Gospel  records 
is  to  respect  their  silences.  They  end,  as  we 
remember,  by  assuring  us  that  if  the  whole  story 
were  told,  '  even  the  world  itself  could  not  contain 
the  books  which  should  be  written.' 3  But  what  is 
actually  written  and  preserved  for  us  can  become 
the  spring  of  faith  and  life.  And  it  is  only  at  the 
two  great  spiritual  crises  of  the  Lord's  life,  when 

1  See  The  Study  of  the  Gospels,  by  the  Dean  of  Westminster, 
p.  66.     '  Wherever  our  Lord  uses  the  term  "  Son  of  Man,"  He 
speaks  not  only  for  Himself  but  for  "man"   whom  He   has 
"  taken  upon  Himself  to  deliver  him."  ' 

2  Milton's  Ode  on  the  Nativity.  3  St.  John  xxi.  25. 


MINISTERING   ANGELS  281 

the  inner  conflict  with  evil  and  the  evil  one  gathered 
into  a  point — at  the  Temptation  in  the  wilderness 
and  the  Agony  in  the  garden — that  we  are  distinctly 
told  of  angels  ministering  to  Him. 

But  is  it  not  strange  and  even  terrible  to  notice 
that  the  first  reference  to  angels  at  the  Temptation 
comes  from  the  evil  one  himself  ?  It  is  he  who 
offers  our  Lord  their  solace  and  succour,1 '  citing  for 
his  purpose '  the  gracious  promise  of  the  gist 
Psalm,  '  He  shall  give  His  angels  charge  over  thee, 
and  in  their  hands  they  shall  bear  thee  up,  lest  at 
any  time  thou  dash  thy  foot  against  a  stone.'  And 
the  offer  constitutes,  according  to  St.  Luke's  order 
of  the  scenes  of  the  Temptation,  its  climax  and 
crown.  It  was  the  masterpiece  of  the  devil's  wiles. 
If  he  could  only  persuade  the  Son  of  God  to  make 
this  self-willed  venture  of  faith  and  to  demand  this 
exhibition  of  angelic  power  on  His  behalf,  he  would 
have  Him  in  his  power.  Does  it  mean  that  the 
devil — a  fallen  angel  himself — who  had  carried 
Christ,  whether  in  the  body  or  out  of  the  body  we 
cannot  tell,  up  to  this  dizzy  height,  was  transforming 
himself  into  an  angel  of  light,  and  was  ready  to 
bear  Him  down  securely  in  his  hands  ?  Such  a  sign 
might  have  brought  a  temporary  glory  to  the  Lord 
and  have  struck  wonder  into  the  multitudes  assembled 
in  the  temple  courts.  But  it  would  not  have  been 
in  the  line  of  the  Father's  Will,  and  the  good  angels, 

1  St.  Luke  iv.  10,  n. 


282  A   BOOK  OF   ANGELS 

who  always  do  that  Will  in  heaven,  could  have  had 
no  part  in  it.  So  the  offer  was  rejected.  To  have 
yielded  would  have  been  to  make  a  needless  self- 
willed  experiment  with  God's  promises.  He  would 
not  tempt  the  Lord  His  God.1  And  we  learn  from 
our  Lord's  experience  that  we  cannot  be  sure  that 
behind  every  beautiful  and  uplifting  feeling  that 
may  visit  us  there  is  to  be  found  an  angel's  ministry. 
We  must  '  try  the  spirits.'  What  looks  like  an 
angelic  visitation  may  really  be  a  device  of  the 
devil  leading  us  to  seek  our  own  glory,  to  make 
rash  experiments  with  our  faith,  to  put  ourselves, 
by  our  own  motion,  into  difficult  and  doubtful 
situations.  Some  of  the  saddest  wrecks  in  the 
moral  life  have  been  occasioned  by  this  spiritual 
recklessness.  The  soul  becomes  elated  and  excited. 
It  '  winds  itself  too  high.'  It  ventures  on  some 
unbidden  task  that  lies  outside  the  leading  of  God's 
Spirit.  It  takes  liberties  with  God.  And  just 
because  it  has  soared  so  high,  like  Icarus  in  the 
ancient  legend,  on  the  wings  of  self-confidence,  the 
fall  is  all  the  more  disastrous.  To  be  placed  on  some 
pinnacle  of  spiritual  fame  or  popularity,  to  be 
heated  with  glowing  imaginations  which  may  even 
express  themselves  in  the  words  of  Holy  Scripture, 
is  to  meet  the  most  severe  and  subtle  temptation 
that  can  happen  to  a  soul.  It  is  so  easy  to  lose  one's 

1  St.  Luke  iv.  12. 


MINISTERING  ANGELS  283 

balance  ;  to  reel  under  the  ecstasy  of  emotion,  to 
lose  the  clear  calm  discernment  of  good  and  evil, 
to  '  let  one's  feelings  run  in  soft  luxurious  flow.' 
And  while  angels  may  seem  to  be  surrounding  us 
and  prompting  beautiful  thoughts  and  words,  we 
may  be  actually  falling  into  a  snare  of  the  devil. 

But  the  angels  came  at  last.  '  Then  the  devil 
leaveth  Him,  and,  behold,  angels  came  and  ministered 
unto  Him.' l  It  was  the  reward  for  patient  endur 
ance.  He  had  '  walked  humbly  with  His  God,'  in 
the  path  of  His  Father's  commandments.  He  had 
not  '  entered  into  temptation  '  by  any  act  of  self- 
will.  But  when  the  Spirit  had  led  Him — *  driven 
Him,52  as  St.  Mark  says — against  the  foe,  He  met 
and  mastered  the  power  of  evil,  and  then  there  fol 
lowed  the  ministry  of  angels. 

But  how  did  they  minister  to  Him  ?  Did  they 
prepare  a  table  before  Him  in  the  wilderness,  just 
as  the  ravens  had  brought  food  to  Elijah  at  the 
brook  Kerith  ?  Did  they  hush  Him  to  sleep, 
exhausted  as  He  must  have  been  after  the  storm 
and  stress  of  temptation,  and 

'  Spread  their  white  wings  about  Him, 
Watching  round  His  bed '  ? 

or  did  they  just  do  what  the  poet  asks  that  the 
*  dear  and  great  angel '  might  do  with  him  after 

1  St.  Matt.  iv.  ii.  2  St.  Mark  i.  12. 


284  A  BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

the  ministry  to  the  little  child  at  his  prayers  was 

finished  ? 

'  I  would  rest 

My  head  beneath  thine,  while  thy  healing  hands 
Close-covered  both  my  eyes  beside  thy  breast. 
...  till  every  nerve  had  soothing 
And  all  lay  quiet,  happy,  and  supprest.' l 

We  can  only  be  sure  that  the  blessed  angels 
brought  to  the  Lord  unspeakable  calm  and  refresh 
ment  of  body  and  spirit,  and  that  their  solace  was 
the  recompense  for  His  loyal,  unswerving  obedience 
in  the  hour  of  trial.  And  as  we  read  on  in  St. 
Luke's  story  2  how  *  he  returned  in  the  power  of 
the  spirit  into  Galilee  .  .  .  and  taught  in  their 
synagogues,  being  glorified  of  all,'  we  are  made 
to  feel  with  what  readiness,  almost  with  what 
radiance,  of  body  and  soul  He  set  about  His 
Father's  business  in  the  world. 

And  for  ourselves  we  may  thankfully  ascribe, 
under  God,  to  the  agency  of  the  angels  any  '  com 
forts  '  which  '  have  refreshed  our  souls,'  comforts 
which  we  have  not  snatched  at  through  self-will  or 
self-indulgence  ;  but  which  have  been  sent  us  out 
of  God's  royal  bounty.  Why  should  we  not  recog 
nise  the  angel's  ministry  in  those  '  extraordinary 
mercies '  which  Robert  Louis  Stevenson,  in  one 
of  his  evening  household  prayers  at  Vailima,  asked 
might  be  blessed  to  his  family — a  sudden  relief 

1  R.  Browning's  Guardian  Angel.  *  St.  Luke  iv.  14,  15. 


MINISTERING   ANGELS  285 

from  long-continued  pain  or  from  a  strong  and 
distressing  assault  of  evil,  or  that  unaccountable 
thrill  of  peace  and  joy  which  sometimes  floods  our 
whole  being  in  the  midst  of  some  familiar  scene  or 
task,  and  which  invests  it  with  an  altogether  fresh 
meaning  and  delight  ?  If,  as  Newman  says  in  his 
wonderful  sermon  on  the  angels,1  *  every  breath  of 
air  and  ray  of  light  and  heat,  every  beautiful  pro 
spect  is,  as  it  were,  the  skirts  of  their  garments, 
the  waving  of  the  robes  of  those  whose  faces  see 
God  in  heaven,'  then,  when  these  things  bring  us 
some  special  pleasure  and  recovery  from  languor 
or  gloom,  the  angels  may,  indeed,  be  not  only 
passing  by,  but  pausing  to  offer  us  an  individual 
ministration. 

But  then  in  due  course  there  came  to  our  Lord 
the  deeper  experience  of  the  Agony  at  Gethsemane, 
when  the  devil,  who  had  left  Him  '  for  a  season,' 
returned  for  a  more  terrible  and  final  assault, 
suggesting  to  Him  the  possibility  of  escape  from  the 
pain  and  shame  of  the  Passion.  And  Christ's 
reply  to  St.  Peter,  when  the  latter  began  to  smite 
with  the  sword,  shows  plainly  what  part  the  angels 
might  have  played  in  that  escape  if,  per  impossibile, 
by  an  act  of  self-will  He  had  claimed  such  a  deliver 
ance  from  His  Father  :  *  Thinkest  thou  that  I  can 
not  pray  to  my  Father,  and  He  shall  even  now  send 
me  more  than  twelve  legions  of  angels  ?  '  But  He 

1  Parochial  Sermons,  vol.  ii.  serm.  xxix. 


286  A   BOOK  OF  ANGELS 

adds,  c  How  then  should  the  Scriptures  be  fulfilled, 
that  thus  it  must  be  ? '  l     So,  again,  just  as  at  the 
Temptation,  He  refuses  the  offer  of  help,  whether 
from  man  or  angel,  which  should  cause  Him  to 
swerve   one  hair's   breadth   from   the   path   along 
which  the  Father  is  leading  Him,  or  which,  to  use 
His  own  figure,  should  hinder  Him  from  draining 
to  the  dregs  the  cup  which  His  Father  was  giving 
Him.     And  so  again,  just  because   He  obeys  and 
endures,  the  solace  unasked — and,  shall  we  dare  to 
say,  unlocked  for  ? — comes  according  to  His  need. 
And  when  the  inner  agony  of  spirit  was  so  poignant 
that  it  expressed  itself  in  the  outward  sweat  of 
blood,   c  there  appeared  unto  Him  an  angel  from 
heaven,  strengthening  Him.' 2     The  text,  indeed,  as 
the  margin  of  our  Revised  Version  reminds  us,  is 
omitted  in  many  ancient  manuscripts  and  versions. 
Yet,  even  if  the  incident  be  no  part  of  the  original 
record,  it  is  easy  to  account  for  the  gloss.     It  is 
the  natural  explanation  of  what  the  disciples  must 
have  observed  as  they  watched  Him  rise  from  the 
ground  and  go  to  meet  the  crowd  that  was  entering 
the  garden — the  calm  victorious  mien  with  which 
he  met  his  captors,   and  which,  alternating  with 
throbs  and  spasms  of  anguish,  He  displayed  through 
out  the  hours  of  His  Passion.     It  is  St.  John,  '  in 
whose  record  no  voice  of  suffering  finds  a  place,' 
who    reveals,    beyond    any    other    Evangelist,    the 

1  St.  Matt.  xxvi.  53,  54.  2  St.  Luke  xxii.  43. 


MINISTERING  ANGELS  287 

majesty  of  the  Passion.1  He  does  not  tell  us  of 
the  Agony  in  the  garden,  but  he  alone  describes 
the  effect  which  the  Lord's  presence  and  words 
produced  on  the  band  of  soldiers.  '  When,  there 
fore,  He  said  unto  them,  "I  am  He,"  they  went 
backward  and  fell  to  the  ground.' 2  How  can  we 
explain  this  strange  transition  from  the  prostrate 
agony  of  prayer  to  the  royal  majesty  of  appearance 
which  struck  a  momentary  terror  into  His  foes  ? 
Was  it  not  the  angels'  ministry  which  had  brought 
Him  from  God  this  sudden  access  of  strength  and 
brightness  that  flashed  forth  in  his  look  and  words  ? 

So,  perhaps,  the  broad  simple  lessons  which  we 
may  gather  from  these  recorded  instances  of  angels 
succouring  our  Lord  in  His  earthly  life  are  just  these  : 

First,  their  ministry  seems  to  bring  a  sort  of 
refreshment  and  recovery  that  is  physical  in  its 
effects.  When,  after  a  season  of  trial  and  effort 
and  pain,  we  are  visited  with  some  unexpected 
brightness  which  enables  us  to  *  rise  and  take  our 
task,'  calmly  and  gladly,  c  upon  the  battlefield  of 
of  life,'  then  we  may  most  clearly  and  thankfully 
believe  that  angels  have  been  at  work  with  us. 
'  Think,'  asks  Karshish  in  his  epistle, 

1  Think,  could  we  penetrate  by  any  drug 
And  bathe  the  wearied  soul  and  worried  flesh, 
And  bring  it  clear  and  fair  by  three  days'  sleep  ! 
Whence  has  the  man  the  balm  that  brightens  all  ? ' 3 

1  See  Bishop  Westcott's  The  Victory  of  the  Cross,  p.  95. 

2  St.  John  xviii.  6.  3  R.  Browning,  An  Epistle. 


288  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

That  is  what  the  angels  can  do  for  us.  Why 
should  we  not  ascribe  to  their  agency  whatever  is 
real,  and  wholesome,  and  permanent  in  the  accredited 
triumphs  of  mind  over  matter  of  which  we  hear  so 
much  to-day  ?  It  is  as  if  the  angels  rejoiced  to 
communicate  to  those  who  are  often  weighed  down 
by  the  corruptible  body  something  of  their  own 
alacrity  and  joyousness  of  service.  *  They  excel  in 
strength,'  and  we  have  most  evidently  profited  by 
their  ministry  when,  like  them,  we  have  been  '  made 
ready  in  body  as  well  as  spirit  cheerfully  to  accom 
plish  those  things,' l  or  to  bear  those  things,  which 
God's  Will  orders  for  us,  and  when  others  can  see 
in  us  some  outward  tokens  of  this  cheerfulness  in 
service.  It  is  surely  remarkable  that  the  only 
instance  in  the  Bible  of  a  human  being  looking  like 
an  angel  is  not  some  innocent  child  or  tender 
woman,  but  the  young  man  Stephen  as  he  con 
fronted  his  judges  with  a  wisdom  and  courage  which 
they  could  not  withstand.2  Strength,  not  sweetness, 
is  the  mark  of  angels,  and  their  ministry  must 
always  mean  the  imparting  of  some  sort  of  strength. 
They  '  anoint  and  cheer  our  face '  when  it  is  *  soiled  ' 
with  depression,  or  weariness,  or  pain. 

Then,  secondly,  if  we  have  read  rightly  the 
meaning  of  our  Lord's  experience,  we  learn  that 
in  this  region  of  angelic  ministry  it  is  easy  to  be 

1  Collect  for  Twentieth  Sunday  after  Trinity. 
2  Acts  vi.  1 5. 


MINISTERING   ANGELS  289 

deluded  by    vain,    mischievous   fancies.     We  may 
imagine  ourselves    to    be    cradled    and    carried   in 
angels'   hands,    when    all   the   while   we    are   only 
feeding  our  spiritual  vanity  and  indulging  ourselves 
in  unreal  ideas  which  are  prompted  from  below  and 
not  from  above.     We  must  not  fling  ourselves  upon 
the  stones,  and  then  expect  God  to  send  us  His 
promised  succours.     They  are  only  pledged  to  us 
when  we  are  walking  in  the  path  of  obedience  and 
service.     Our  daily  prayer  must  be,  not  for  angelic 
consolations,  but  that  we  may  be  kept  undauntedly 
and    perseveringly    in    this    path.     It    is    without 
doubt    strewn    with    stones,    and    we    shall    often 
stumble.     But  there  will  be  all  sorts  of  surprising 
interventions    and    providences    to    save    us    from 
dashing   ourselves    against    the   stones.     We   need 
not  ask  too  anxiously  that  we  may  be  conscious 
of  angelic  presences  and  solaces.     That  might  only 
weaken  our  purpose  and  our  progress.     But  if  we 
are  faithful  to  God's  leading,  just  when  the  strain 
of  temptation  or  suffering  seems  to  be  reaching  its 
breaking-point,    the  angels  will  come  '  unawares  ' 
to  succour  us  and  to  brace  us  for    fresh    conflict 
and  victory. 

Does  this  possibility  of  delusion  about  the 
reality  of  angels'  visits  at  all  account  for  the  marked 
silence  of  the  Bible  about  them  just  where  we  might 

have  most  expected  their  presence  to  be  revealed 

at  the  hour  of  death  ?     We  cannot  wonder  that 


u 


A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

great  painters  of  the  Crucifixion  have  set  the 
angels  round  the  Cross,  such  as,  to  take  only  one 
instance,  Luini's  great  fresco  in  the  church  of 
Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli  at  Lugano.  And  they 
must  have  been  there,  not  only  desiring  to  stoop 
and  look  into  the  mystery  of  the  Passion,  but  also 
ministering  to  the  Soul  and  Body  of  the  dying 
Lord.  Yet  '  something  sealed  the  lips '  of  the 
Evangelists.  And  their  reserve  stands  in  sharp 
contrast  to  the  details  of  visions  and  voices  of 
angels  with  which  death-bed  scenes  have  often 
been  embellished  by  later  and  uninspired  writers. 
Are  we  wrong  if  we  think  of  our  Lord  offering  us  the 
example  of  a  humble,  rather  than  a  happy,  death  ? 
The  seven  measured  sayings,  closing  with  the  child 
like  committal  of  His  soul  to  the  Father's  Hands, 
and  that,  as  we  may  suppose,  only  the  recital  of  the 
evening  Psalm  which  He  had  learnt,  like  any 
Jewish  child,  from  His  Mother,  seem  to  caution  us 
against  encouraging  in  ourselves  or  in  others  any 
demonstrations  of  speech  or  feeling  which  might 
easily  interfere  with  the  realities  of  that  last  dread 
hour. 

'  And  I  would  pass  in  silence,  Lord, 

No  brave  words  on  my  lips, 
Lest  pride  should  cloud  my  soul,  and  I 
Should  die  in  the  eclipse.' l 

1  Faber's  Hymns,  Wishes  about  Death. 


MINISTERING  ANGELS  2gi 

Yet  we  may  and  ought  to  pray  for  the  succouring 
presence  of  the  angels,  for  death  as  well  as  for  life. 
Just  as  in  the  Compline  Collect  at  the  close  of 
each  day  we  pray  that  God's  holy  angels  may  abide 
in  our  dwelling  to  keep  us  in  peace  through  the 
hours  of  darkness,  so  we  shall  pray  for  their  guardian 
ship  when  the  shadows  of  death  are  closing  in. 
Any  who,  like  the  writer,  have  been  privileged  to 
spend  the  Festival  of  the  Angels  at  St.  Michael's 
College,  Tenbury,  and  have  heard  that  perfect 
choir  sing,  to  Sir  Frederick  Gore  Ouseley's  exquisite 
setting,  the  hymn,  '  They  come,  God's  messengers 
of  love,' l  are  never  likely  to  forget  it. 

'  They  come  to  watch  around  us  here, 
To  soothe  our  sorrow,  calm  our  fear': 
Ye  heavenly  guides,  speed  not  away, 
God  willeth  you  with  us  to  stay. 

But  chiefly  at  its  journey's  end 
Tis  yours  the  spirit  to  befriend, 
And  whisper  to  the  faithful  heart, 
"  O  Christian  soul,  in  peace  depart." 

An  Angel  guard  to  us  supply, 
When  on  the  bed  of  death  we  lie ; 
And  by  Thine  own  Almighty  power, 
O  shield  us  in  the  last  dread  hour.'  ' 

Are  they  not  all  ministering    spirits   sent  forth 

1  No.  424,  Hymns  A.  &  M. 


U  2 


292  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

to  do  service  for  the  sake  of  them  that  shall  inherit 

salvation? 

r .   Ji.   v/. 


THE  thought  that  we,  each  one  of  us;  small  as 
our  capacity  may  be,  in  all  that  we  do,  and  in  all 
our  inward  changes  of  feeling  and  thought,  are 
objects  of  the  keenest  interest  to  hosts  of  Spiritual 
Personalities  ;  the  feeling  that  we  are,  and  cannot 
help  being,  sources  of  joy  or  of  comparative  sorrow 
to  immortal  beings,  in  whose  memory  this  joy  or 
grief  remains  embedded ;  immortal  beings,  we 
may  say,  who  possibly,  though  here  we  float  away 
into  realms  that  leave  scope  for  imagining,  find 
in  following  the  turnings  of  our  minds,  in  the 
analysis  of  our  hearts,  and  the  discernment  of  our 
spirits,  an  occupation  congenial  to  their  nature, 
and  one  which  may  be  the  field  appointed  for  the 
exercise  of  some  of  their  powers, — this  thought, 
while  it  wakens  in  us  a  new  sense  of  responsibility 
and  awe,  gives  us,  at  the  same  time,  a  higher  kind 
of  care  for  ourselves.  Tennyson  makes  his  hero  say 
that  if  he  were  beloved,  '  then  he  would  be  to  himself 
more  dear,'  and  that  all  the  common  routine  of 
his  daily  life  would  be  endued  with  an  interest 


MINISTERING  ANGELS  293 

which  it  had  not  hitherto  known.  In  like  manner, 
if  we  believe  that  the  angels  of  God  love  us,  and 
take  a  lively  and  affectionate  interest  in  our  doings, 
as  we  do  in  those  of  our  children,  now  delighting 
and  now  grieving,  but  saved  from  desponding, 
where  we  might  despond,  by  being  able  '  to  see  the 
end  and  know  the  good,'  less  imperfectly  than  the 
wisest  man  ;  and  if,  while  living  here  on  earth,  we 
are  all  the  while  able  to  add  to  the  Joy  of  Heaven, 
or  cause  sorrow  there,  then  we  must  become  more 
precious  in  our  own  eyes,  knowing  that  we  can 
bring  about  more  imperishable  effects  than  we  had 
dreamt  of  before. 

Henry  Latham  (1821-1902). 

THE  Angels  ministered  to  Christ  through  all  His 
life  on  earth.  And  as  they  ministered  to  Him  so 
do  they  also  to  us.  ...  As  we  think  of  the  angels' 
love,  and  contemplate  the  destinies  so  strangely 
interwoven  with  our  own,  as  we  find,  by  the  teaching 
of  God's  Word,  their  influence  crossing  our  path 
at  every  step  in  our  life,  warding  off  dangers  from 
us,  bringing  us  God's  help  besought  of  Him  in 
prayer,  aiding  us  in  our  warfare  of  temptation, 
teaching  us  the  heart  music  with  which,  in  silent 
praise  and  active  gratitude,  we  thank  God  for  all 
His  mercies ;  still  more  as  we  '  see  the  heavens 
open,  and  the  angels  of  God  ascending  and  descend 
ing  on  the  Son  of  Man,'  in  holiest  ministrations, is 

there  no  thought  in  our  heart  of  a  work,  not  only  on 


294  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

which  to  gaze,  but  in  which  to  share, — the  ministering 
to  our  brethren,  and  in  them  to  Christ  Himself  ? 

G.  C.  Harris. 


How  much  more  vividly,  and  in  what  truer  perspec 
tive  altogether,  this  presence  and  work  of  the  Angels 
was  formerly  held,  is  illustrated  in  a  curious  way  in 
some  of  our  old  churches.  The  Gospel  record  of 
our  Lord's  Baptism  tells  us  that  '  the  Heavens  were 
opened.'  We  too  often  think  only  of  the  Dove 
descending ;  but  there  is  an  old  church  in  the 
north,  dating  from  Norman  times,1  in  which  the 
builders  have  depicted  the  scene  of  the  Baptism 
in  rude  but  inspired  carved-work  of  stone  ;  and 
there  is  seen  not  only  the  figure  of  the  Dove  coming 
down  upon  the  head  of  the  Anointed  One,  but  on 
the  right  hand  is  an  Angel  flying  with  the  chrisom— 
the  white  robe  which  is  the  sign  and  symbol  of  grace. 
The  thought  was  a  true  one.  How  should  the 
Heavens  be  opened  and  no  angels  be  seen  ?  How 
should  the  Lord  Christ  be  anywhere  and  not 
attended  by  those  Ministers  of  His  who  do  His 
pleasure,  and  who  only  wait  the  word  of  command  to 
minister  unto  Him  and  unto  all  whom  He  has  chosen 
to  be  heirs  of  salvation  ?  O  that  in  the  years  before 
us  this  thought  may  be  recovered,  as  the  Church's 
daily  faith,  that  we  are  even  now  come  unto  Mount 
Sion  and  unto  the  City  of  the  living  God,  the  heavenly 
Jerusalem,  and  to  an  innumerable  company  of 

1  Adel  Church,  Yorkshire. 


MINISTERING   ANGELS  295 

angels,  who  with  us  are  the  general  assembly  and 
church  of  the  first-born,  which  are  written  in 
Heaven,  and  that  we  are  even  now  called  to  stand 
before  God  and  share  in  some  measure  the  com 
munion  of  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  and 
of  Jesus  the  Mediator  of  a  new  covenant. 

W.  H.  D. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
Hngels   of  DfctotE 

An  Angel  robed  in  white  array 
Had  rent  the  rock  and  sat  thereon. 

E.  T.  F. 

We  must  not  stand  to  gaze  too  long 
Though  on  unfolded  Heaven  our  gaze  we  bend, 

Where  lost  behind  the  bright  angelic  throng 
We  see  Christ's  entering  triumph  slow  ascend. 

No  fear  but  we  shall  soon  behold, 
Faster  than  now  it  fades,  that  gleam  revive, 

When  issuing  from  His  Cloud  of  fiery  gold 
Our  wasted  frames  feel  the  true  Sun,  and  live. 

J.  KEBLE. 


ANGEL  AT  THE    EMPTY  TOMB, 

IFm   AtHjeliuo.t 


Hngete  of  IDictors 

4  THY  will  be  done,  as  in  heaven,  so  on  earth.'  Thus 
our  Blessed  Lord  teaches  us  to  pray,  and  to  learn 
by  and  in  this  prayer  to  live  our  spiritual  life  on 
earth  as  the  Holy  Angels  live  their  spiritual  life  in 
heaven.  We  know  that  this  divinely  given  example 
of  the  holy  angels  applies  to  the  whole  of  our 
spiritual  life  ;  but  it  is  in  reference  to  one  particular 
aspect  of  it  that  we  seek  to  apply  it  now  in  the 
short  study  which  is  before  us — namely,  to  that  of 
the  '  victories  '  of  our  spiritual  life.  In  what  sense 
are  the  holy  angels,  in  this,  our  example  ?  In  what 
sense  are  they  '  angels  of  victory  '  to  us  ? 

In  order  to  answer  this  question,  we  must,  first  of 
all,  ask,  '  In  what,  exactly,  do  the  spiritual  victories 
of  the  Christian  consist  ?  '  The  Christian's  victories 
consist  in  those  of  His  Lord  and  Master.  What 
were  Christ's  victories  are  his.  Nay,  more:  the 
Christian's  victories  are  those  of  the  Master,  fought 
and  wrought  out  again  in  the  soul  of  the  disciple. 
Our  line  of  thought,  then,  will  resolve  itself,  first, 
into  the  enquiry,  *  What  are  the  victories  of  Christ 
which  He  still  repeats  and  achieves  in  Christian 


300  A   BOOK  OF  ANGELS 

souls  ?  '  Then  into  asking,  '  What  part  did  and  do 
the  holy  angels  take  in  these  victories  ?  '  And  so  to 
the  ascertainment,  in  some  measure,  of  how  we  are 
to  follow  their  example. 

What,  then,  are  the  victories  of  Christ  which  He 
still  repeats  in  the  souls  of  His  disciples  ? 

Our  Lord's  victories  were  threefold. 

First,  there  were  what  we  may  term  His  '  victories 
of  solitude.'  At  the  beginning  of  His  career  we 
suddenly  find  Him  as  a  mighty  personality  standing 
forth  and  heralding  the  proclamation,  '  Repent :  for 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand  '  l  ;  and  imme 
diately  gaining  a  victory  far  and  wide  over  long- 
settled  ignorance,  over  sickness,  disease,  torment, 
devils,  and  lunacy  ;  while  He  stirs,  through  all  the 
country  round,  an  awakening  from  indifference  and 
sloth.  But  when  we  look  at  the  record,  we  notice 
that  these  great  deeds  were  the  fruit  of  long  and 
hidden  retirement,  not  only  of  the  retirement  of 
His  thirty  years  of  a  quiet,  obscure  bringing  up, 
but  also  of  one  specially  and  divinely  chosen,  in  the 
lonely  barren  solitudes  of  the  wilderness,  where  no 
human  being  was  near,  where  all  that  Satan  could 
possibly  offer  to  tempt  Him  from  His  course  had 
been  unflinchingly,  undistractedly  faced  and 
weighed  and  met ;  and  where,  without  the  con 
tracting  of  a  single  stain,  all  the  tempter's  offers 
had  been  deliberately  and  finally  refused.  It  was 

1  St.  Matthew  iv.  17. 


ANGELS   OF   VICTORY  301 

here  that  the  after-triumph  was,  in  reality,  won. 
The  outward  victories  of  His  activities  were  the 
fruit  of  the  secret  victories  of  His  solitude.  And  we 
see  Him  repeating  this  great  method  of  victory,  in 
souls  that  are  His,  now.  We  have  known  what  it  is 
to  be  sometimes  taken  by  surprise  at  the  fine 
spiritual  triumph  of  a  person  from  whom  we  had 
not  been  led  to  expect  it.  He  found  himself  in 
some  great  crisis.  It  had  immediately  to  be  met, 
and,  to  the  wondering  admiration  of  friends,  he 
rose  supremely  to  it.  There  was  no  hesitation. 
The  great  thing  to  be  done  he  did  ;  and  all  concerned 
became  aware  that  a  pitched  battle  had  been  fought 
and  a  great  victor  become  known.  But  his  victory 
was  not,  in  reality,  won  either  there  or  then.  It 
had  already  been  previously  won  in  many  a  secret 
struggle  and  many  a  secret  victory,  seen  only  by 
the  eye  of  God  and  by  the  surrounding  holy  angels. 
There  temptation,  in  many  a  guise  and  attack,  had 
been  met  and  faced  and  overthrown.  Then  when 
that  battle  had  again  to  be  fought  before  the  eyes 
of  the  whole  world,  the  enemy  was  an  enemy 
already  defeated,  and  the  victor  was  already  a 
victor  before  ever  the  struggle  commenced.  Thus 
does  Christ  still  achieve  His  same  victories  of 
solitude  in  the  life  of  the  soul  of  His  disciple. 

And  what  is  the  part  which  the  holy  angels  take 
in  this  ?  We  read  that  in  the  victory  of  our  Lord 
in  the  solitude  of  the  wilderness  they  *  came  and 


302  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

ministered  unto  Him.'  l  They  brought  to  Him,  in 
His  sacred  Humanity,  the  comforting  sense  that 
heaven's  sympathy  was  with  Him.  They  thronged 
Him  with  their  joyous  congratulations.  They  had 
intently  watched  every  phase  of  the  struggle,2 
feeling  their  own  deep  personal  concern  in  it  all, 
and  that  the  question  of  human  souls  ever  entering 
into  companionship  with  them  in  their  ranks 
depended  upon  its  issue.  Then,  when  at  last  the 
full  victory  was  gained,  it  was  their  unbounded 
joy  to  fly  to  him  with  food  and  refreshment,  and  to 
earn  for  themselves  the  title  of  being  '  angels  of  the 
victory  of  His  solitude.' 

'  and  straight  a  fiery  globe 
Of  Angels  on  full  sail  of  wing  flew  nigh, 
Who  on  their  plumy  vans  received  Him  soft 
From  His  uneasy  station,  and  upbore, 
As  on  a  floating  couch,  through  the  blithe  air  ; 
Then,  in  a  flowery  valley,  set  Him  down 
On  a  green  bank,  and  set  before  Him  spread 
A  table  of  celestial  food,  divine 
Ambrosial  fruits  fetched  from  the  Tree  of  Life, 
And  from  the  Fount  of  Life  ambrosial  drink, 
That  soon  refreshed  Him  wearied,  and  repaired 
What  hunger,  if  aught  hunger,  had  impaired, 
Or  thirst ;   and,  as  He  fed,  Angelic  quires 
Sung  heavenly  anthems  of  His  victory 
Over  temptation  and  the  Tempter  proud  : 

1  St.  Matthew  iv.  11.  -  C.f.  St.  Mark  i.  13. 


ANGELS   OF   VICTORY  303 

Thus  they  the  Son  of  God,  our  Saviour  meek, 
Sung  Victor,  and,  from  heavenly  feast  refreshed, 
Brought  on  His  way  with  joy.'  l 

These  ministrations  they  still  repeat,  in  many 
wonderful  ways,  to  the  soul  of  the  Christian  disciple. 
Often,  in  our  spiritual  struggles,  do  their  voices 
come,  bringing  us  a  heavenly  joy  and  consolation 
when  no  other  aid  is  near.  And  whenever  we,  too, 
go  to  a  soul  who,  after  long  and  patient  secret  trial, 
has  come  forth  gloriously  from  a  spiritual  triumph, 
and  then  and  there  offer  him  our  sympathy  and 
congratulations,  and  make  him  feel  that  we  regard 
his  triumph  as  our  own,  and,  should  he  have  person 
ally  suffered  in  the  conflict,  render  him  what 
practical  help  we  can  give  him, — then  we  also  are,  on 
earth,  what  the  angels  of  this  victory  are  in  heaven. 

Gethsemane,  too,  as  well  as  the  wilderness,  was 
the  scene  of  a  mighty  victory  of  solitude.  It  was 
there  that  the  battle  of  Calvary  was  really  fought 
and  won.  '  O  my  Father,  if  this  cup  may  not  pass 
from  Me,  except  I  drink  it,  Thy  will  be  done,' 2  was 
the  final  victor-cry  of  the  last  great  struggle  of  the 
Cross,  the  agony  of  which  made  His  sweat  as  it  were 
great  drops  of  blood  falling  down  to  the  ground.3  Nor 
was  this  victory  unaccompanied  by  angelic  ministra 
tion.  We  read  that  '  there  appeared  an  angel  unto 
Him  from  heaven,  strengthening  Him ' 4 ;  the 

1  Paradise  Regained,  iv.  581.  .     2  St.  Matthew  xxvi.  42. 

3  St.  Lukexxii.  44.  *  Ibid.  xxii.  43. 


304  A   BOOK  OF   ANGELS 

Greek  word  for  '  strengthening  Him '  being  a 
special  word,  seeming  to  imply  that  the  angel 
imparted  to  him,  in  His  sacred  Humanity,  some 
special  strength  and  support  which  went  with  Him 
through  the  terrible  hours  of  the  Cross  right  onward 
into  Paradise.  And  such  angels  minister  to  our 
Lord  in  this  same  way  when  He  repeats  His  victory 
of  Gethsemane  in  His  martyrs  and  in  His  saints. 
The  ecclesiastical  historian  Socrates,  who  wrote 
about  the  year  400  A.D.,  tells  us  that  the  Emperor 
Julian  commanded  Sallust  the  Praetorian  prefect  to 
seize  and  make  examples  of  the  Christians,  and  that 
on  a  young  man  named  Theodore,  who  was  brought 
before  him,  he  inflicted  a  variety  of  tortures,  causing 
his  person  to  be  so  lacerated  that  at  last  he  was 
released  from  further  punishment,  under  the  sup 
position  that  he  could  not  possibly  survive  the  suf 
ferings  he  had  endured.  God,  however,  preserved 
him,  so  that  he  long  outlived  those  torments. 
And  Socrates  states  that  Rufinus,  also  the  author 
of  an  ecclesiastical  history,  himself  conversed  with 
Theodore  some  time  afterwards,  and  upon  his 
inquiring  of  him  whether  in  the  process  of  his 
scourging  and  racking  he  had  not  felt  the  most 
agonising  pains,  his  answer  was,  that  a  young  man 
stood  by  him  in  his  torments,  who  both  wiped  off 
the  sweat  which  was  produced  by  the  acuteness  of 
the  ordeal  through  which  he  was  passing,  and  at 
the  same  time  strengthened  his  mind,  so  that  he 


ANGELS   OF   VICTORY  305 

made  this  time  of  trial  a  season  of  rapture  rather 
than  of  suffering.1  And  we  know  of  some  such 
instances  of  angelic  ministrations  from  our  own 
experiences  also.  A  certain  mother,  not  very  long 
ago,  had  a  child  of  whom  she  was  dotingly  fond. 
This  little  lad,  through  an  accident,  suffered  a 
severe  burning  from  which  he  not  long  afterwards 
died.  When  the  clergyman  of  the  parish  called  he 
expected  to  find  the  mother  heartbroken  and 
crushed.  To  his  surprise,  however,  he  found  her 
quite  calm  and  collected,  and  she  explained  to 
him  that  while  she  had  been  weeping  bitterly  beside 
the  cot,  her  little  boy  had  suddenly  exclaimed, 
'  Mother,  don't  you  see  the  beautiful  man  who  is 
standing  there  and  waiting  for  me  ?  J  Again  and 
again,  she  said,  had  the  child  persisted  in  saying 
that  '  a  beautiful  man  '  was  waiting  for  him,  so  that 
he  seemed  ready  and  even  anxious  to  go  to  him. 
It  was  this  which  had  made  the  mother's  heart 
become  so  strangely  calmed  and  cheered. 

Yes  ;  there  are  still  the  angels  of  the  victories  of 
our  Gethsemanes  ;  and  those  souls  do  God's  will  on 
earth  as  such  angels  do  it  in  heaven,  who  impart 
consolations  to  all  who  are  suffering  in  communion 
with  Christ ;  upholding  them  with  cheering  words ; 
inspiring  and  sustaining  them  with  thoughts  of  the 
power  which  comes  from  accepting  God's  Will ; 
aiding  them  with  their  prayers  ;  administering,  with 

1  Socrates,  Eccles.  Hist.  iii.  19,  A.D.  362. 

X 


3o6  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

these,  to  their  bodily  comforts ;  smoothing  the 
pillow  and  the  bed  of  pain  ;  watching  with  them 
through  the  long,  agonising  hours  of  the  night ;  and 
giving  them  that  companionship  for  which  they 
crave,  *  until  the  day  break,  and  the  shadows  flee 
away.5 

Anyone  who  has  been  round  a  hospital  at  mid 
night,  listened  to  the  heavy  breathing  in  the  silent 
wards  from  one  bed  here  and  from  another  bed 
there,  and  has  heard,  in  the  stillness,  a  groan,  with 
perhaps  the  very  words  of  the  Redeemer,  '  Father, 
if  this  cup  may  not  pass  away  from  me,  except  I 
drink  it,  Thy  will  be  done,'  and  has  then  seen 
suddenly,  behind  the  dim  light  in  the  centre  of 
the  ward,  emerging  from  the  darkness  beyond, 
a  white-draped  figure,  swiftly,  immediately  at 
hand,  soothing  and  ministering  to  the  sufferer, — 
knows,  and  thanks  God  he  knows,  that  while  we 
still  have  our  Gethsemanes  on  earth,  we  still 
have  also  those  who  follow  the  angels  in  hovering 
over  them,  and  who  aid  in  the  victories  that 
are  won  there,  victories  which  bring  forth  their 
fruit  either  in  sanctified  lives  of  restored  health 
upon  earth,  or  in  purified  souls  gone  forward  into 
Paradise. 

But  our  Lord  had  not  only  His  victories  of 
solitude,  as  from  the  wilderness  and  Gethsemane  : 
He  had  also  the  open  victory  of  His  Resurrection, 
the  victory  of  emancipated  spiritual  life.  After  His 


ANGELS   OF  VICTORY  307 

enemies  had  put  forth  every  effort  to  keep  Him  in 
the  hidden  solitude  of  His  grave  ;  after  taking  Him 
captive  ;  binding  Him  ;  beating  Him  down  ;  handing 
Him  over  to  the  heathen  civil  power  ;  nailing  Him 
to  a  cross  ;  burying  Him  in  a  sepulchre  ;  laying  a 
great  stone  upon  the  mouth  of  it ;  sealing  it,  and 
placing  a  guard  of  soldiers  to  watch  it ; — He  yet 
calmly,  supremely  rose  above  it  all,  and  came  forth, 
and,  unimpeded,  continued  His  victorious  course, 
appearing  where  and  when  He  chose  to  His  revived 
and    wondering    disciples.     It    was    the    mightiest 
victory  of  all  that  He  had  won  upon  earth.     And 
we  see  Him  spiritually  repeating  this  whenever  He 
raises  a  soul  from  the  death  of  sin  unto  a  life  of 
righteousness  and  brings  forth  by  His  Grace  the 
Divine  image  from  out  that  soul,  notwithstanding 
every  effort  of  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil 
to  keep  it  buried  in  the  grave  of  earthliness  and  sin, 
and    notwithstanding    all    opposition    to    its    ever 
escaping  from  that  condition  ;  notwithstanding,  too, 
its  own  tearfulness  and  shrinking  from  breaking 
loose  into  an  unknown  environment,  although  that 
environment    be    better   and   higher   than   any   it 
has  had  before ;   and  when,  although  every  power 
of    the    enemy  has  been  arrayed    against    it,  He 
yet  leads  it  forth,  calmly  and  supremely  triumph 
ant,  and  bids  it   move   unlet   and  unhindered   in 
the   everlasting    peace   of    His   all-pervading  pre 
sence. 

X  2 


3o8  A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

And  innumerable  are  the  companies  of  angels 
who  minister  to  Christ's  glory  in  these  Resurrection 
victories.     It  is  impossible  to  define  exactly  their 
manifold  appearances  at  the  open  tomb  as  recorded 
by  the  Evangelists.     Amid  so  much  that  was  super 
natural  they  do  not  appear  to  make  any  attempt 
to  give  us  exactitude  of  description.     They  simply 
show  us  that  angels  were  in  the  tomb  ;  were  all 
about  the  tomb  ;  were  outside  the  tomb.     Instead 
of  occupying  ourselves,  therefore,  with  the  various 
harmonistic  schemes  that  have  been  put  forward 
in  reference  to  the  well-known  controversy  as  to  the 
number  of  the  angelic  appearances  on  the  Resurrec 
tion  morn,  we  shall  be  wiser  to  remind  ourselves 
of  the  words   of  Lessing,  who  wrote  :    '  Cold  dis 
crepancy-mongers,    do   ye  not   then   see   that   the 
Evangelists  do  not  count  the  angels  ?     The  whole 
grave,  the  whole  region  round  about  the  grave  was 
invisibly  swarming  with  angels.     There  were  not 
only  two  angels,  like  a  pair  of  grenadiers  who  are 
left  behind  in  front  of  the  quarters  of  the  departed 
general ;  there  were  millions  of  them  ;  they  appeared 
not  always  one  and  the  same,  not  always  the  same 
two  ;  sometimes  this  one  appeared,  sometimes  that ; 
sometimes  alone,  sometimes  in  company ;  sometimes 
they  said  this,  sometimes  they  said  that.'  l 

It  would  seem  that  our  Lord  (with  a  certain 
parallel   to   His  Birth)  rose  while   the   tomb   was 

1  Quoted  in  Lange's  Commentary. 


ANGELS   OF  VICTORY  309 

closed  and  sealed,  by  His  own  Divine  and  inherent 
power  alone,  and  that  it  was  not  for  the  sake  of 
His  escaping  from  it,  Who  had  already  left  it,  but 
for  the  sake  of  its  emptiness  being  known  to  devout 
and  earnest  seekers  after  Christ,  that  an  angel 
descended  from  heaven  with  lightning  speed,  and 
rendering,  without  smiting  them,  the  terrified 
keepers  as  powerless  as  if  they  were  dead,  hurled  the 
great  stone  away,  and,  by  seating  himself  upon  it, 
dared  any  foe  to  replace  it.1  Others  of  the  angelic 
band  explained  to  dazed  and  perplexed  disciples 
something  of  the  mystery  of  what  had  taken  place, 
and  directed  them  to  where  they  would  meet  the 
Lord  and  see  Him  in  His  glorified  Body  2 ;  while 
they,  these  celestial  beings  themselves,  with  their 
buoyant  energies,  their  undecaying  bodies,  their 
fadeless  beauty  and  power,  their  supernatural 
brightness,  exemplified  that  spiritual  state  which 
all  who  follow  the  Victorious  Risen  One  would 
likewise  inherit  when  they,  too,  in  Him,  rose  from 
the  dead.  And  whenever  our  Blessed  Lord  repeats 
this  victory  spiritually  in  human  souls,  they  still 
administer  their  heavenly  aid  in  many  a  removal  of 
physical  and  earthly  opposition  which  the  enemy 
tries  to  advance.  Those  who  have  been  engaged  in 
the  Resurrection  work  of  Missions  know  of  wonderful 
instances  of  such  helps  from  the  holy  angels  ;  no 

1  St.  Matthew  xxviii.  1-6. 

2  St.  Luke  xxiv.  3-7 ;  St.  Mark  xvi.  7. 


3io  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

less  wonderful  than   the  loosening  of  St.    Peter's 
chains  and  the  opening  of  the  iron  gates. 

And  whenever  members  of  Christ's  Church  press 
around,  with  earnest  interest,  this  emancipating  and 
resurrection  work,  and,  without  interfering  with 
what  God's  Grace  alone  can  do  in  bringing  forth 
submerged  spirits  into  His  light  and  life,  strike,  by 
a  holy  indignation,  terror  and  shame  into  all  that 
would  oppose  the  testimony  of  that  release  ;  when 
ever  Christian  workers  boldly  come  forward  to 
remove,  and  keep  removed,  all  obstacles  evilly  put 
in  the  way  of  such  a  testimony  ;  whenever  one  who 
bears  the  name  of  Christ  directs,  with  all  the  know 
ledge  which  he  possesses,  to  where  the  spiritual  life 
is  to  be  found,  while  he  himself,  and  in  himself, 
bears  witness  to  its  glory  and  gives  aid  to  its  being 
furthered ; — there  can  we  see  being  done  on  earth,  in 
the  spiritual  emancipation  of  souls,  what  the  angels 
of  this  victory  have  done,  and  are  doing,  from  the 
heavenly  realms  above. 

But  our  Lord's  victories  did  not  cease  even  at 
His  Resurrection.  He  has  not  only  His  victories 
of  solitude  and  His  victories  of  spiritual  emancipa 
tion  ;  He  has  also,  as  regards  His  sacred  Humanity, 
His  victories  of  growth  and  progress  in  glorification. 
If  His  Resurrection  was  a  victory  over  all  that 
would  have  hindered  His  coming  forth  into  newness 
of  life,  His  Ascension  is  the  victory  of  an  ever- 
upward  advance  of  that  new  life,  to  the  right  hand 


ANGELS   OF  VICTORY  311 

of  the  Majesty  on  high.  During  the  nine  days  of 
His  leaving  the  earth  and  His  sending  down  the 
Holy  Spirit  from  above,  He  '  passed  through  the 
heavens,'  l  that  is,  the  nine  winged  orders  of  the 
heavenly  hosts.  As  He  ascended  up  on  high,  each 
choir  of  these  celestial  hierarchies  received  Him  into 
its  ranks,  offering  Him  the  special  gifts  it  possessed, 
that  He  might  fill  all  things  with  Himself,  and  then 
handed  Him  on  to  the  rank  next  above  it  with  the 
demand, 4  Lift  up  your  heads,  Oye  gates ;  and  be  ye 
lift  up,  ye  everlasting  doors ;  and  the  King  of  Glory 
shall  come  in,'  while  they  added  the  affirmation, 
the  affirmation  of  a  now  newly  experienced  know 
ledge,  *  The  Lord  of  hosts,  He  is  the  King  of  Glory,' 
when  challenged  as  to  Who  that  King  of  Glory 
was.2 

Identifying  Himself,  first,  with  the  '  Angels,' 
who  bring  to  Him  the  graces  with  which  they  reflect, 
in  their  manifold  ways,  the  attributes  of  the  Deity, 
He  is  passed  on  by  them  to  the  '  Archangels.' 
Receiving  from  these  their  special  gifts  of  super 
vision,  He  is  brought  by  them,  in  turn,  to  the 
1  Principalities  '  or  '  Princedoms,'  with  their  powers 
of  spiritual  initiation 3 ;  and  then,  leaving  this  highest 
order  of  the  Administrative  Choir,  He  passes  into 
the  Choir  above,  that  of  the  Regulative  angels, 
which  expectantly  now  awaits  Him.  Here,  first, 

1  Heb.  iv.  14,  R.V. 
2  Psalm  xxiv.  9,  10.  3  See  Chapter  iv.  p.  86. 


312  A   BOOK  OF  ANGELS 

the  *  Powers,'  whose  streams  of  holy  influences 
connect  their  Choir  with  the  one  below,  welcome 
Him  into  their  midst.  Receiving  these,  He  is 
passed,  uplifted  by  them,  into  the  rank  of  the 
'  Virtues/  whose  strength  is  now  laid  at  His  feet  in 
both  lowly  and  joyful  adoration.  Taking  their 
gift,  He  is  escorted  by  them  to  the  '  Dominions,' 
or  '  Headships,'  the  highest  order  of  this  central 
triad,  whose  talents  have  for  ever  fitted  them  for 
forming  and  establishing  founts  of  regulative  power 
and  control.  Gathering  these  into  Himself,  He  now 
ascends  to  the  highest  Choir  of  all,  the  threefold  orders 
of  the  Contemplative  angels.  Here  the  '  Thrones  ' 
wait  first  to  greet  Him  and  to  surrender  to  Him 
their  powers  for  working  out  bases  for  the  regulative 
administrations  of  the  Choir  He  has  just  left,  which 
they  are  continually  providing  out  of  the  exalted 
fruit  of  a  wrapt  and  ceaseless  contemplation. 
Accepting  these  their  powers,  He  is  conveyed  by 
them  to  the  *  Cherubim,'  who  present  to  Him  that 
knowledge  which  specially  is  theirs,  as  they 
then  usher  Him  into  the  highest  order  of  all,  that 
innermost  circle  which  surrounds  the  Throne  of 
God,  the  sacred  band  of  the  Seraphim,  who,  from 
age  to  age,  contemplate  and  absorb,  in  so  far  as 
their  beings  can  contain  it,  that  Holiness  which 
constitutes  the  very  central  attribute  of  the  God 
head.  Possessed  of  this  crowning  vocation  of  all 
the  heavenly  hosts,  He  steps  from  this  final  stage  of 


ANGELS   OF  VICTORY  313 

the  angelic  stairway  to  Heaven,  and,  leaving 
behind  Him  all  creaturely  existence,  and  every 
name  that  is  named,  He  passes  at  last,  solitary, 
supreme,  alone,  the  only  begotten  Son,  to  the  right 
Hand  of  the  Father.  Beyond  this  there  can  be  no 
further  advance.  It  is  the  summit  and  crown  of  all. 
In  this  ascending  procession  to  His  furthest 
possible  victory,  there  was  not  one  angel  from  one 
order  of  one  choir  who  did  not  yield  to  Him  his 
every  ministering  aid.  All  the  heavenly  hosts  were 
'  Angels  of '  this  '  Victory.'  One  and  all  they  gave 
themselves  up  to  Him,  that  it  might  be  through 
each  one  of  them  He  ascended  to  the  place  pre 
pared  for  Him.  And  eagerly  do  they  still  yield  this 
aid  to  every  soul  that,  following  Jesus,  is  carried  by 
them  to  another  bosom  now  than  that  of  Abraham. 
And  it  is  because  they  know  so  well  this  roadway  of 
the  Saviour  that 

'  The  Angels  from  their  throne  on  high 
Look  down  on  us  with  pitying  eye, 
That  where  we  are  but  parting  guests 
We  build  such  strong  and  solid  nests  ; 
And  where  we  hope  to  dwell  for  aye 
We  scarce  take  heed  a  stone  to  lay.' l 

And  every  child  of  God  who,  reflecting  this  '  pitying 
eye,' yields  himself,  wheresoever  hecan,  to  thespiritual 
ascension  of  a  soul  raised  from  a  grave  of  worldliness 
and  sin  ;  who  freely  affords  that  emancipated  one 
On  the  wall  of  a  house  in  Dublin. 


A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

every  aid  of  his  own  spiritual  experiences,  allowing 
that  one,  as  we  sometimes  express  it,  '  to  be  taken 
up  with  him,'  until,  finding  yet  better  aids  still,  and 
going  from  strength  to  strength,  that  soul  at  last 
appears  before  God  in  Zion; — every  such  child  of 
God  is,  even  as  are  those  in  heaven,  an  '  Angel  of ' 
this  final  '  Victory  '  of  the  Ascension. 

C.  H.  S. 


CHAPTER  XV 
TTbe  IDotce  ot  tbe  Hrcbanael 

Even  now  the  Angels  are  moving  to  and  fro  throughout 
the  realms  of  the  living  and  of  the  dead,  to  prepare  for  that 
supreme  moment,  when,  in  the  counsels  of  God,  all  will  at  last 
he  ready,  and  the  Judge  will  be  seen  on  the  clouds  of  Heaven. 

H.  P.  LIDDON. 


ANGELS  IN  THE  LANTERN.  ELY  CATHEDRAL. 

IT.  Gambler  Parry,    1873,1 


Iflofce  of  tbe  Brcbanael 


'  THEN  COMETH  THE  END  ' 

For  the  Lord  Himself  shall  descend  from  heaven  with  a 
shout,  with  the  voice  of  the  archangel,  and  with  the  trump 
of  God. — i  Thessalonians  iv.  16. 


THE  shout  and  the  voice  of  the  Archangel  and  the 
trumpet  are  the  signals  of  the  King's  Return,  and 
of  the  consummation  of  the  Kingdom  of  Grace. 

In  the  Apostle's  conception  all  history  is  crowded 
into  one  swift  scene.  Time  and  the  course  of 
the  world  are  over  as  if  they  were  but  an  hour, 
a  little  while,  a  passing  shadow  of  darkness  ;  and 
the  morning  has  stolen  quickly  upon  the  night. 
It  breaks,  not  with  the  wonted  signals  of  time  or 
of  earthly  routine,  not  with  the  cock-crowing,  or 
with  the  voice  of  some  watchman  going  his  round 
and  saying  '  The  morning  cometh,'  but  with  a  new 
sound  from  another  world,  a  new  and  mighty 
voice,  and  a  new  and  strange  instrument  that 
has  never  fallen  on  the  ear  of  man  until  now,  the 
shout  of  the  Lord,  and,  in  prompt  answer,  the 


3i8  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

voice  of  the  archangel  and  the  sound  of  the  trump 
of  God. 

They  are  at  once  signals  and  a  command ; 
signals  of  a  Presence  and  a  command  that  death 
itself  cannot  refuse  to  obey.  Signals  of  a  Presence  ; 
but  of  what  Presence  ?  The  Presence  of  the  Lord, 
the  Lamb  that  was  slain,  yet  now  no  more  a  Lamb 
in  weakness  but  the  Lord  of  all  power  and  might ; 
the  Son  of  Man  not  now  under  humiliation  but 

glorified. 

He  who  on  earth  might  have  prayed  for  twelve 
legions  of  angels  and  '  presently '  they  should  have 
been  at  His  side,  is  now  come,  not  with  twelve 
legions,  but  with  4  all  the  holy  angels '  with  Him. 
He  has  not  prayed  for  them  as  a  suppliant  in  need, 
as  one  in  weakness  wanting  succour;  He  has 
commanded  and  they  have  obeyed,  He  has  called 
and  they  have  answered;  they  come  in  unnum 
bered  multitudes,  and  yet  not  unnumbered,  for  they 
are  in  due  rank  and  order  and  they  move  without 
confusion  or  uncertainty,  each  one  in  his  place, 
impelled  by  the  unity  of  the  One  Spirit  within 
them,  without  let  or  hindrance,  with  no  hesitation 
or  doubt  or  delay,  none  hampering  the  work  of 
another,  none  charged  with  more  than  he  can  do, 
none  checked  by  another's  mistake  or  weakness  or 
failure,  none  making  a  mistake  or  falling  into  a 
failure  of  his  own,  but  all  of  them  robed  in  excellent 


THE   VOICE   OF   THE   ARCHANGEL       319 

strength   and  proceeding  exactly  to   that   end   to 
which  the  Spirit  moves  them. 

*  The  Lord  Himself  shall  descend  from  Heaven.' 
He  is  the  centre  of  that  host  and  on  Him  they  all 
attend.  Hitherto  their  work  has  been  to  minister 
to  the  heirs  of  salvation,  to  contend  with  the  powers 
of  evil,  or  to  serve  before  the  Throne  of  the  Most 
High.  Part  of  their  ministry  has  been  to  carry 
on  the  operations  of  Nature,  to  fashion  and  control 
all  that  is  visible  and  audible  ;  and  also  many 
things  to  us  invisible  and  inaudible.  Who  can 
tell  the  number  of  those  hosts,  far  exceeding  the 
number  of  the  hosts  of  mankind  ?  Every  soul  of 
the  redeemed  has  his  guardian  angel,  and  yet  the 
hosts  of  God  fulfil  many  other  tasks  than  that  of 
guardianship.  How  shall  we  form  any  conception 
answering  to  the  thought  suggested  by  the  Apostle's 
words  ?  The  very  title  Archangel  implies  the 
presence  of  subordinate  hosts,  even  as  in  the  armies 
of  this  world  the  title  Commander  implies  the 
presence  of  those  whom  he  commands.  The  angels 
and  archangels  who  attend  the  Lord  come  not  as 
men  that  move  from  one  place  to  another  with 
slowness  and  difficulty,  and  who  leave  one  place 
empty  when  they  fill  another.  Heaven  is  not  emptied 
when  earth  is  filled.  Rather  the  thought  is  that 
of  revelation,  of  heaven  unfolded,  of  heaven  and 
earth  united  in  one  glorious  outpouring  of  living 


32o  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

light,  for,  as  the  Psalmist  says,  God's  very  chariots 
are  of  angels.1    Let  us  figure  to  ourselves  the  idea 
of  the  Lord  coming  in  the  central  blue  of  the  sky, 
coming  with  clouds,  white  clouds  as  pure  as  snow, 
and  yet  a  ring  of  dark  clouds  also,  the  tokens  of  his 
anger  against  sin.     And  let  us  think  of  rays  of  light 
emanating  from  that  central  point  and  reaching  to 
earth  around  its  whole  horizon,  each  ray  distinct  and 
yet   touching  other   rays   on   either  side  like  the 
colours  in  the  rainbow,  and  falling  not  in  straight 
lines  but  following  what  seems  to  us  the  curve  of 
the  skyi  till  they  descend  to  the  very  horizon's  rim. 
Let  us  conceive  that  every  one  of  these  rays,  so 
converging    to    that    upper    centre,    consists    of    a 
multitude  of   angels,  turning  inwards  towards  the 
earth  and  looking  from  heaven  to  earth  and  from 
earth  to  heaven,  throbbing  as  it  were  with  love 
and  strength  and  obedience,  ready  to  do  whatsoever 
their  Lord  shall  say,  or  only  signify  to  them  with  a 
look  or  by  a  movement. 

Let  us  conceive  of  their  work  of  separation, 
of  dividing  the  tares  from  the  wheat,  of  gathering 
God's  elect  from  the  four  winds,  of  ending  the 
world's  confusion,  of  making  it  finally  and  for  ever 
impossible  that  evil  shall  again  interfere  with  and 
trammel  good.  Let  us  think  of  their  irresistible 
power,  whether  singly  or  in  hosts  ;  and  dream  of 
what  it  shall  be  directed  to  hereafter,  when  they 

1  Ps.  Ixviii.  17. 


THE   VOICE   OF  THE   ARCHANGEL      321 

shall  turn  to  new  tasks,  to  new  works  which  no  lan 
guage  or  thought  of  man  has  yet  conceived  or  told  of, 
the  employments  of  God  when  the  dispensation  of 
Grace  has  been  fulfilled,  and  a  new  page  in  the  Book 
of  Eternal  Life  is  unfolded. 

There  will  be  no  carrying  of  souls  into  Abraham's 
bosom,  for  all  shall  be  there  in  that  day  ;  no  speaking 
words  of  help  to  pilgrims  on  earth,  for  all  shall  be 
at  home  in  their  Father's  house  ;  no  waiting  at  the 
door  of  a  prison  or  of  any  earthly  dwelling,  for  all 
shall  have  been  delivered  ;  no  guarding  of  sepulchres, 
for  all  shall  have  risen  from  the  dead  ;  no  disputing 
about  the  bodies  of  the  saints,  for  not  one  shall 
have  been  left  in  the  dust ;  no  troubling  of  waters 
to  heal  disease,  for  all  shall  have  been  made  whole 
of  whatsoever  disease  they  had  ;  and  the  multitude 
of  the  saved  shall  be  glorified  with  health,  and  with 
perfection  of  every  faculty  both  of  soul  and  body, 
and  be  found  each  one  walking  in  his  uprightness. 

The  Judgment  is  what  we  look  on  to,  with  fear 
and  trembling,  from  our  earthly  life  ;  but  not  with 
fear  and  trembling  only.  In  proportion  as  God 
gives  to  any  soul  the  gift  of  love,  that  love  casts 
out  fear,  in  the  certitude  of  His  mercy  and  grace, 
and  looks  on  through  the  Judgment  to  that  which 
will  follow  it,  when  the  great  trial  and  crisis  are 
passed,  and  the  Omnipotent  Love  of  the  Father 
pours  itself  out  upon  the  new  heavens  and  the  new 

Y 


322  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 

earth  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness  and  righteous 
ness  only. 

Of  what  use  are  such  contemplations  ? 

The  question  is  a  natural  one,  for  in  the  most 
sacred  things  we  long  above  all  for  the  justification 
of  truth,  and  fear  more  than  anything  else  the 
danger  of  mere  indulgence  and  reverie. 

But  the  question  is  answered  by  the  Apostle 
himself.  'Wherefore  comfort  one  another  with 
these  words.'  The  use  of  such  contemplations, 
when  truly  based,  is  comfort,  Trapa/cX^o-ts-,  the 
very  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  from  the  nature  of 
which  one  of  His  most  glorious  names  is  derived. 
The  underlying  thought  is  of  that  age-long  weakness 
that  comes  over  the  heart  of  man  when  he  thinks, 
without  comfort,  '  concerning  them  that  are  fallen 
asleep.'  Man  has  conquered  many  enemies,  but  one 
has  seemed  invincible.  One  has  seemed  to  be 
possessed  of  a  strength  that  has  worn  out  our  most 
patient  skill  and  dashed  our  last  hope  to  the  ground. 
When  it  has  come  to  a  trial  of  strength  with  that 
last  enemy,  man  has  seemed  to  himself  defeated, 
to  be  like  a  regiment  ordered  to  charge  upon  an 
impossible  position,  and  to  find  himself  mown  down 
without  getting  foothold  in  the  citadel  at  all.  Upon 
that  consciousness  have  waited  fear,  despair,  reck 
lessness,  bitter  and  hopeless  grief.  What  shall  turn 
the  scale  in  the  soul's  battle  ?  Only  some  adequate 
idea,  some  comforting  thought,  born  of  faith,  that 


THE   VOICE   OF  THE   ARCHANGEL       323 

the  power  of  this  last  enemy  is  not  so  invincible 
as  man  has  feared. 

Such  an  idea  is  that  of  the  risen  Captain  of  our 
salvation  attended  by  innumerable  hosts  of  deathless 
servants,  greater  in  power  and  might  (tV%w  teal 
Svvdfjbsi)  than  mortal  man,  and  able  to  subdue  all 
things  to  Himself,  dealing  with  death  as  a  part  of 
creation  not  unforeseen,  not  unreckoned  for,  not 
unprovided  against,  but  met  and  overcome  with 
powers  more  than  equal  to  the  demand  upon  them. 
From  the  Divine  side  death  must  have  a  quite 
different  appearance  from  that  which  it  has  to  us 
who  see  it  from  the  human  side  alone. 

The  thought  of  the  Lord's  Return  with  the 
hosts  of  the  Angels  and  the  Archangels  is  a  spiritual 
lever  by  which  we  are  lifted  to  a  new  point  of  view. 
Let  us  use  it  as  the  Apostle  bids  us  use  it,  to  '  com 
fort  one  another  with  these  words  '  ;  that  so  we  may 
be  '  steadfast,  unmoveable,  always  abounding  in  the 
work  of  the  Lord,  forasmuch  as  we  know  that  our 
labour  is  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord.' 

W.  H.  D. 


4  SURELY  I  COME  QUICKLY.    AMEN. 
EVEN  so,  COME,  LORD  JESUS.' 


324  A   BOOK   OF   ANGELS 


O  DAY  of  life,  of  light,  of  love  ! 
The  only  day  dealt  from  above  ! 
A  day  so  fresh,  so  bright,  so  brave,1 
'Twill  show  us  each  forgotten  grave, 
And  make  the  dead,  like  flowers,  arise, 
Youthful  and  fair,  to  see  new  skies. 
All  other  days,  compared  to  thee, 
Are  but  Light's  weak  minority  ; 
They  are  but  veils  and  cypress,2  drawn 
Like  clouds,  before  thy  glorious  dawn. 
O  come  !  arise  !  shine  !  do  not  stay, 

Dearly  loved  Day ! 
The  fields  are  long  since  white,  and  I 
With  earnest  groans  for  freedom  cry  ; 
My  fellow  creatures  too  say,  Come  ! 
And  stones,  though  speechless,  are  not  dumb, 
When  shall  we  hear  that  glorious  voice 

Of  life  and  joys  ? 
That  voice  which  to  each  secret  bed 

Of  my  Lord's  dead 
Shall  bring  true  day,  and  make  dust  see 

The  way  to  immortality  ? 
When  shall  those  first  white  pilgrims  rise, 
Whose  holy  happy  histories 
— Because  they  sleep  so  long — some  men 
Count  but  the  blots  of  a  vain  pen  ? 

Dear  Lord  !  make  haste  ! 

Henry  Vaughan. 

Brave,  splendid.  a  Cypress,  crape. 


So  far  of  the  Angels,  of  whose  glory  may  God  of  His 
mercy  make  us  partakers  ;  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord. 

St.  Thomas  Aquinas. 


INDEX    OF    AUTHORS 


AMBROSIAN  LITURGY,  155 
Aquinas,  St.    Thomas,   58,    158, 

325 

Augustine,  St.,  255 

BEHMEN,  Jacob,  264 

Bennett,  W.  J.  E.,  « Last  Ser 
mons  at  St.  Paul's,  Knights- 
bridge,'  No.  XVIII.,  59 

Benson,  Arthur  Christopher,  226, 
235,  264 

Blake,  W.,  228 

B.M.,  'Ezekieland  other  Poems,' 
277 

Brooks,  Phillips,  '  New  Starts  in 
Life,'  Sermon  IV.,  37 

Browning,  Elizabeth  Barrett,  65, 
122,  165,  193,  231,  252 

Browning,  Robert,  284,  287 

Bull,  Bishop,  Theological  Works, 
Sermon  XII.,  120,  190 

CARTER,  F.  E.,  Dean,  279 
Carter,    Canon    T.    T.,    'Oxford 

Lent  Sermons,  1 866, '  No.  VIII. , 

edited  by  Bishop  Wilberforce, 

24 

Cheyne,  Canon,  20 
Church,  Dean,  '  The  Message  of 

Peace,'  No.  I.,  261 
Coles,  V.  S.  S.,  47 

DANTE,   21,   45,   65,    123,   139, 

165,  206,  215 
Davidson,  Dr.  A.  B.,  20 


:  Donne,  John,  Dean  of  St.  Paul's, 
Works,  vol.  iv. ,  Sermon  81, 
59 

|   Draper,  William  H.,  3,  257,  294, 

3*7 

Duchesne,  Mgr.,  155 
Dugmore,  E.  E.,  125 

E.  M.  H.,  195 
I 
I  FABER,  F.  W.,  48,  211,  290 

|  HARRIS,    George   C.,    Sermons, 

162,  293 

I  Hart,  G.  W.,  236 
I  Heber,  Bishop,  23 
I  Herbert,  George,  in 

Hooker,  Richard,  169,  182 
j 
j  IRENAEUS,  St.,  148 

j  JAMESON,  Mrs.,  'Sacred  and 
Legendary  Art,'  chapter  on 
Angels,  202,  204,  212 

j  Jeaffreson,  Herbert  H.,  218 

KEBLE,  John,  '  Sermons  for 
Saints'  Days,'  No.  XXXIX., 
1 86 

-    'Christian   Year,'    233,    261, 
275,  297 

—  '  Lyra  Innocentium,'  255 

LATHAM,  Henry,  '  A  Service  of 
Angels,'  238,  249,  292 


328 


A   BOOK   OF  ANGELS 

RANDALL,  R.  W.,  Dean,  'Tracts 


Lessing,  308 

Liddon,  H.  P.,  'Sermons  on  the 
Old  Testament,'  No.  XX.,  42 

—  '  Bampton  Lectures,'  II.,  20; 
VII. ,  159 

—  '  Christmastide  Sermons,'  IX. 
and  XVII. ,  262 

-  '  Advent  Sermons,'  XXXVII. ,       Ruskin,  John,  208 

315 

Lowell,  J.  R.,  229 
'  Lyra  Apostolica,'  217 


for  the  Christian  Seasons,'  3rd 
series,  edited  by  J.  R.  Wood- 
ford,  168 

Rossetti,  Christina,  '  The  Face  of 
the  Deep,'  136,  161,  191 
Poems,  63,  138 


SARUM  MISSAL,  141 
Sharpe,  C.  H.,  68,  299 
Spenser,     Edmund,       75;      'An 
Hymn  of  Heavenly  Love,'  67 


MASON,  John,  163 

Milton,   John,  75,    78,    79,    109, 

193,  213,  280,  302 
Moberly,     Bishop,     'Winchester    ,  Tennyson,  Frederick,  213 

College    Sermons,'    1st    series,       Tetley,  J.  George,  no 

XI.,  181 

—  '  Brighstone  Sermons,'  251 
Myers,  F.  W.  H.,  114 


TENNYSON,  Alfred  Lord,  112 


VAUGHAN,  Henry,  215,  324 


I  WEBB,  Bishop,  4 
NEWMAN,    J.    H.,     'Dream    of    j  Westcott,  Bishop,  '  The  Historic 


Gerontius,'  53,  139,  236 


Faith,'  note  IX.,  228 


211 


'University  Sermons,'  XIV.,    :  Whately,  Archbishop,    'Lectures 

on    Scripture    Revelations    on 
Angels,'  229 
The       Whigham,  L.  R.,  265 


PARRY,      T.     Gambier, 


Ministry   of    Fine    Art,'    198,       Williams,  Isaac, 'The  Baptistery,' 


205,  210 
Pusey,  Dr.,  20,  55,  240 


167 
Wirgman,  A.  T.,  141 


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